THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


/ 


THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE. 


THE 


WINTER  SCHOOL; 


on. 


THE  BOYS'  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  ONE  OF  THEIR 
WORST  ENEMIES. 


BY    MRS.  H.  E.  BROWN. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

AMERICAN    TRACT    SOCIETY, 
28    COKNIIILL,    BOSTON. 


Entered,  according  to  Act    '  Congress,  in  the  year  1862, 

BY  THK   AMfCIUi'AX   TRACT   SOCIKTY, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAOB 

I.  A  JOKE  — AT  WHOSE   EXPENSE?  ....     5 

II.    THE  NEW  SCHOOL  HOUSE 14 

III.  THE  COMMITTEE  MEETING    .......   20 

IV.  THE   GRAND  CONDITION 27 

V.    A  GREAT  SURPRISE 31 

VI.    CATCHING  A  SUNBEAM 37 

VII.    FIRST  FRUITS 44 

V11I.    THE  ANTI-TOBACCO  SOCIETY 51 

IX.  REV.  MR.  OSBORNE'S  TEA  TABLE    ...    58 

X.    FARMER  CLARK'S  KITCHEN 66 

XI.    WELL  DONE 72 

XII.    THE  HISTORY  OF  A  WEED 78 

XIII.  A  TIMELY  SCRUBBING 84 

XIV.  ANOTHER  FLURRY 96 

XV.    A  THREEFOLD  EVIL 107 

XVI.    DIPPING 114 

XVII.  A  PEEP  INTO  A  MINISTER'S  STUDY .  .  124 

XVIII.    A  DANGEROUS  LUXURY 140 

XIX.    AN  OUT-DOOR   SERMON 147 

XX.    HOW  TO  MAKE  MONEY 159 

XXI.    THE  WORKING  LEAVEN 166 

XXII.    A  FOE  TO   TRUE  MANHOOD 171 

XXIII.  CHARLIE   MERRILL 176 

XXIV.  SHOEMAKER'S   FINDINGS 185 

XXV.    A  FAREWELL  DISCOURSE 192 

XXVI.    WHAT   BECAME  OF  THEM 199 

;7' 


THE  WINTEK  SCHOOL. 


CHAPTER  I. 

A  JOKE  — AT  WHOSE  EXPENSE? 

"Jnvi  LAWRENCE,  what  does  make  you 
smoke  so  much?  Before  I'd  be  seen  going 
to  school  every  day  with  a  long-nine  in  my 
mouth  ! "  Thus  spoke  Tristram  Gilmore,  a 
noble-looking  boy  of  fifteen,  as,  with  rapid 
strides  over  the  crispy  snow,  he  overtook  a 
young  schoolmate. 

"  And  who  are  you,  I'd  like  to  know  ?"  gruff- 
ly responded  Jim,  as  he  turned  lazily  round 
to  face  his  companion,  at  the  same  moment 
lifting  his  cigar  from  his  lips,  and  ejecting 
the  poisoned  saliva  with  the  air  and  aptitude 
of  an  accomplished  smoker. 

"I'm  myself,  and  nobody  else,"  said  Tris- 
tram, with  energy;  "and  I'm  the  boy  that 
never  will  dirty  my  lips  with  tobacco ;  no, 
not  if  I  live  to  be  a  hundred  years  old !  *  and 

(5) 


6  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

he  straightened  himself  up  with  the  conscious 
spirit  of  a  young  nobleman. 

"May  be,"  replied  Jim;  "we'll  see  when 
you  come  to  be  a  man.  You  haven't  found 
out  what's  good  yet." 

"  Ha,  ha,  ha !  If  that  isn't  rich ! "  shouted 
the  first  speaker,  with  a  broad,  hearty  laugh. 
"  When  I'm  a  man !  How  long  have  you 
been  one,  I  should  like  to  know  ?  " 

No  wonder  he  asked  the  question.  No 
wonder  he  laughed.  Any  body  would  have 
laughed  that  could  have  seen  the  two  boys 
as  they  walked  together  over  the  frozen  foot- 
path that  morning. 

A  splendid-looking  fellow  was  Tristram 
Gilmore.  His  fine,  large,  well-developed  head 
bore  testimony  to  a  breadth  of  intellect  and 
a  superiority  of  organization  not  often  met 
with.  One  had  but  to  look  at  his  fair,  ample 
forehead,  and  into  his  clear  blue  eye,  to  know 
that  he  had  a  frank,  kindly  disposition,  and  a 
noble,  generous  heart.  His  figure  was  finely 
formed,  tall  and  broad  for  one  of  his  years, 
indicating  a  strength  of  constitution  and  ro- 
bust health  which  promised  well  as  the  foun- 
dation and  beginning  of  his  life's  career.  His 
step  was  firm,  and  his  whole  carriage  bold 
and  intrepid.  He  always  looked  you  straight 


A    JOKE AT    WHOSE    EXPENSE?  7 

in  the  eye  when  you  spoke  to  him.  And, 
boys,  do  you  know  what  that  means  ?  It 
means  just  this.  When  a  boy  looks  up  with 
a  clear,  unabashed,  modest  countenance  into 
the  face  of  the  person  who  is  talking  with 
him,  you  may  know  that  he  is  a  good  boy,  — 
honest  and  upright  in  his  words  and  actions, 
—  that  he  carries  about  with  him  a  conscience 
void  of  offense.  He  needs  no  concealment, 
and  fears  no  inquisition.  But  if  he  stands 
with  eyes  downcast,  or  wandering  restlessly 
about  from  side  to  side,  as  if  he  did  not  dare 
to  look  or  be  looked  at,  then  you  may  be  sure 
there  is  something  wrong  about  him.  He  is 
not  a  boy  to  be  believed,  trusted,  relied  on. 
But  one  might  have  known,  at  a  glance,  that 
Tristram  Gilmore  was  not  one  of  these.  His 
whole  bearing  indicated  integrity,  high-mind- 
edness,  and  resolution.  He  was  not  the  youth 
to  do  a  mean  act,  neither  one  that  was  to  be 
overcome  by  difficulties.  With  him,  to  know 
what  was  right  was  to  will  it,  and  to  will  was 
to  do.  Squire  Gilmore  and  his  amiable  wife 
might  well  be  proud  of  such  a  son. 

Jim  Lawrence  was  a  perfect  contrast  with 
him  in  every  point  —  a  puny,  pale,  craven- 
looking  lad,  shamefaced  and  listless.  He  was 
very  nearly  of  the  same  age  as  Tristram,  and 


8  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

yet  so  inferior  in  mind,  body,  character,  and 
attainments,  that  one  might  well  believe  he 
was  many  years  younger.  But  alas !  a  broader 
gulf  than  months  and  years  separated  them. 
A  mean,  selfish  spirit,  a  cunning,  malicious 
disposition,  vicious  propensities  indulged  with- 
out restraint,  had  made  this  boy  an  early  vic- 
tim of  bodily  disease,  mental  inactivity,  and 
moral  weakness.  Were  his  parents  blind  to 
their  son's  delinquencies  and  faults,  or  did 
they  wink  at  them,  because  he  was  their  first- 
born? Did  they  believe  that  a  boy  must 
"  sow  his  wild  oats  "  of  sin,  that  he  might  reap 
a  rich  harvest  of  manly  virtues,  or  did  they 
shrink,  from  sheer  inefficiency,  from  a  contest 
with  his  headstrong  will  and  evil  propensi- 
ties ?  However  this  might  be,  he  was  certain- 
ly a  boy  unloved  and  un desired  as  a  compan- 
ion except  by  those  of  kindred  disposition,  a 
torment  to  his  little  brothers,  —  who,  strange 
to  say,  were  quite  unlike  himself,  —  a  care  and 
anxiety  at  home,  a  vexation  and  annoyance 
in  school,  and  a  nuisance  in  the  neighborhood. 
You  may  wonder,  little  reader,  that  so  bad 
a  boy  should  come  to  school  at  all.  Didn't 
he  play  truant  sometimes  ?  Yes ;  but  this 
winter  there  is  an  attraction,  we  scarcely 
know  what,  that  keeps  him  in  his  place.  For 


A  JOKE  —  AT   WHOSE   EXPENSE? 

the  first  time  in  his  life  he  is  regular  and 
punctual  in  his  attendance.  We  may  hope 
that  whatever  this  attraction  may  be,  it  may 
prove  a  power  for  good  to  the  poor,  miserable, 
self-destroyed  boy. 

"  But  honestly,  Jim,  do  you  really  like  the 
taste  of  that  nasty  thing?"  asked  Sidifey 
Barnes,  who  had  come  up  just  in  time  to  hear 
his  remark  to  Tristram,  and  to  join  in  the 
hearty  laugh  with  which  it  had  been  received. 

"  Of  course.  What  do  you  suppose  I  smoke 
for,  if  I  don't  like  it  ?  I  don't  do  things  I  dis- 
like, I  tell  you,"  sharply  responded  Jim. 

"  Oh,  I  thought  you  did  it  to  look  big  —  to 
make  yourself  a  man?  said  Sidney,  laughing 
and  stretching  himself  up.  "  Better  take  care, 
Jim,  or  you  will  be  like  the  frog  in  the  fable." 

"  Who  was  he,  Sid  ?  "  asked  a  thick,  coarse 
voice  at  his  elbow.  It  was  poor  Luther  Lew- 
is, the  imbecile,  the  half  idiot,  the  forlornest 
of  all  forlorn  creatures  in  the  town  of  Camp- 
field.  Almost  grown  to  man's  estate,  he  knew 
little  more  than  a  child  of  five  or  six.  He 
always  attended  the  winter  school,  however, 
with  the  punctuality  of  the  most  devoted  stu- 
dent, and  being  good  natured  and  inoflensiA'e, 
was  tolerated  by  teacher  and  scholars.  All 
seemed  to  pity  his  misfortune,  and  none  could 


10  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

refuse  to  do  him  a  kindness,  or  to  speak  ten- 
derly to  him,  though  occasionally  the  mischief 
of  some  fun-loving  spirit  would  perpetrate  a 
harmless  joke  at  the  poor  lad's  expense.  Lu- 
ther had  come  up  with  the  group  of  boys  now 
collecting  around  the  school-house  door,  just 
in- time  to  hear  the  latter  part  of  Sidney's 
speech.  Now,  Jim  Lawrence  was  a  very  par- 
ticular friend  of  his,  —  he  not  being  able,  in 
his  simplicity,  to  discriminate  very  keenly  be- 
tween good  and  evil  in  character,  —  furnish- 
ing him  with  all  the  tobacco  he  wanted,  in 
return  for  the  squirrels  and  woodchucks  Lu- 
ther trapped  in  the  woods,  and  the  birds'  nests 
he  stole  from  the  orchards.  No  wonder  he 
wanted  to  know  who  or  what  his  champion 
was  going  to  be  like,  or  how  frogs  could  have 
any  thing  to  do  with  boys. 

"  Why,  Luther,"  replied  Sidney,  with  a 
patronizing  air  and  mock  seriousness  of  tone, 
"  haven't  you  read  in  your  Geography  about 
the  wonderful  frog  that  tried  to  be  as  big  as 
an  ox?  You  see  he  was  conceited  and  am- 
bitious, and  so  he  swelled  himself  out,  and 
swelled,  and  swelled  till  he  — " 

"  Busted ! "  supplied  a  shrill  voice  in  the 
crowd.  And  then  there  was  a  perfect  uproar 
of  laughter,  and  some  ill-mannered  fingers 


A   JOKE AT    WHOSE    EXPENSE?          11 

pointed  at  Jim.  Luther's  countenance,  not 
ordinarily  very  brilliant  in  its  expression,  put 
on  a  piteously  perplexed  look,  while  he  silent- 
ly glanced  from  one  to  another  around  the 
group  as  if  to  fathom  what  it  all  meant ;  and 
then  he  too  laughed  as  uproariously  as  the 
rest. 

Jim's  face  grew  spotted  with  anger.  "  You 
just  mind  your  own  business,  you  preaching 
fools,"  he  cried,  in  a  hoarse  voice.  "  Go  home, 
and  sit  in  your  mammy's  lap,  and  suck  your 
thumbs  and  eat  your  pap,  and  —  " 

There  is  no  knowing  what  further  the  boy 
might  have  perpetrated  in  his  wild  indigna- 
tion, but  at  this  involuntary  rhyme  there  was 
such  an  outburst  of  shouts  and  merriment 
that  the  poor  fellow  was  completely  over- 
whelmed. 

"  Hurrah !  Jim  Lawrence  is  a  poet /  did  you 
know  it  ?  "  cried  one. 

"  If  we  could  do  as  well  as  he,  how  very 
grandeous  we  should  be ! "  sung  another. 

"Jim  Lawrence  the  brave*,  Jim  Lawrence 

the  wise, 
He's  out,  and  his  mother  don't  know  it ; 

A  cigar  in  his  mouth  and  smoke  in  his  eyes, 
Three  cheers  for  Jim  Lawrence,  boys  — 
go  it," 


12  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

was  the  more  elaborate  impromptu  of  SicU 
ney,  and  volley  after  volley  of  fun  and  wit 
succeeded,  with  the  most  vociferous  hurrahs 
and  shouts. 

In  the  midst  of  the  tumult,  Miss  More,  the 
young  teacher,  came  up  the  path.  At  sight 
of  her,  Jim  threw  away  his  cigar,  Luther's  face 
yielded  its  befogged  expression,  for  there  was 
a  charm  in  her  bright  eye  which  seemed  to 
throw  light  and  intelligence  into  his,  and  the 
boys  parted  to  let  her  pass.  • 

"Good  morning,  boys,"  said  she,  with  a 
smile ;  "  you  seem  merry  to-day.  This  bracing 
air  makes  you  bright  and  happy." 

"  Jim  Lawrence  has  turned  poet;  that's  what 
made  us  laugh  so,"  said  little  Willie  Osborne. 
"  You  ought  to  set  him  to  writing  verses,  Miss 
More." 

"An  ode  to  cigars!"  shouted  Sidney. 

"  A  dirge  for  the  '  busted '  frog,"  hesitating- 
ly suggested  Tristram,  in  a  low  voice. 

Jim  looked  furious  with  passion.  Miss  More 
saw  by  a  rapid  glance  that  the  mirth  was 
growing  pointed  and  unpleasant  to  some  of 
the  party,  and  ever  striving  to  preserve  har- 
mony and  good  feeling  in  her  little  flock,  she 
tick  no  notice  of  the  remarks,  but  simply  say- 


A  JOKE AT    WHOSE   EXPENSE."  13 

ing,  "  It  is  time  for  school  to  commence,  boys," 
she  entered  the  building. 

As  she  passes  in  we  perceive  that  she  is  a 
slight-built,  frail-looking  specimen  of  young 
womanhood.  Wherein  lies  her  capability  for 
controlling  from  day  to  day  such  a  turbulent 
representation  of  "  Young  America  "  ? 


14  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  NEW  SCHOOL  HOUSE. 

Ko  common  country  school  house  was  that 
into  which  Miss  More  entered,  with  a  noisy 
troop  of  boys  at  her  heels,  on  that  frosty  Jan- 
uary morning.  It  would  by  no  means  answer 
to  the  oft-repeated  descriptions  of  the  dilapi- 
dated, much  abused,  too  freely  ventilated 
school  houses  of  rural  districts.  Xo,  indeed  ; 
it  was  new,  whole,  clean,  tidy.  The  bright 
red  bricks  and  white  curtained  windows  made 
it  outwardly  a  conspicuous  and  much  admired 
object,  standing  quite  alone  as  it  did  on  the 
edge  of  the  salt  meadow,  a  few  rods  in  from 
the  public  road.  The  villagers  gazed  upon  it 
as  they  walked  past,  with  a  touch  of  pride  at 
its  neat  architecture.  The  farmers,  as  they 
rode  to  church  in  their  open  wagons  from  the 
far  districts  of  the  wide-spread  township,  felt 
a  little  twinge  of  envy  at  the  "  Corner  folks." 
The  stage  driver,  as  he  drove  his  weary  horses 
up  to  the  door  of  the  village  tavern,  to  drop 
the  mail  bag,  and  take  a  hasty  refreshment 
for  man  and  beast,  was  not  loth  to  point  out 


THE   NEW   SCHOOL   HOUSE.  15 

the  new  edifice  to  his  passengers  as  the  "  very 
handsomest  school  'us  in  all  Maine." 

In  summer  it  might  possibly  have  awakened 
a  feeling  of  discomfort,  in  some  sensitive  na- 
tures, by  its  bare,  unprotected  seeming,  the 
hot  sun  glaring  down  upon  the  receptive 
brick,  and  not  a  tree  to  nestle  over  it  with 
sheltering,  cooling  verdure.  But  no  matter 
for  that  now.  The  school  house  had  but 
just  been  finished ;  it  was  opened  for  the  first 
time  for  a  winter  school,  and  when  summer 
came  it  would  be  time  enough  to  complain, 
if  it  were  found  to  be  like  the  fiery  furnace 
of  the  Persian  king,  heated  seven  times  hot- 
ter than  ordinary.  Then  it  is  to  be  hoped 
some  kindly  soul  will  take  pity  on  its  friend- 
less condition,  and,  with  stalwart  arms,  will 
bring,  from  the  near  woods,  maples  and  elms 
and  oaks  to  plant  around  it,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  future,  if  not  of  the  present  generation. 
But  now  we  are  quite  satisfied,  for  we  need  all 
the  heat  which  the  red  bricks  can  absorb  from 
the  wintry  sun,  and  that,  too,  which  a  well- 
filled  stove  can  supply,  and  every  bit  of  the 
bright  sunlight  that  streams  in  through  the 
windows,  to  keep  us  from  congealing  during 
this  long,  cold,  tedious,  down-east  winter. 

Inwardly,  the  "  new "  school  house,  as  it 


16  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

was  uniformly  called,  was  a  pleasant  and  at- 
tractive place,  not  only  because  it  was  so  well 
warmed  that  every  one  forgot  the  icy  condi- 
tion of  nature  outside,  but  because  it  was  so 
neat  and  pleasant  in  all  its  appointments. 
Xo  inky,  whittled  desks  were  there ;  no  rickety 
chairs,  rusty,  smoking  stove,  broken  windows, 
or  torn  curtains,  disgraced  the  apartment. 
The  forms  and  seats  were  painted  white,  and 
were  as  inviting  to  young  intellects  as  hard 
boards  and  straight  backs  could  possibly 
be.  The  walls  were  hung  with  blackboards 
and  maps  —  a  very  unusual  thing  for  those 
days,  and  for  that  secluded  part  of  the  world, 
but  which  added  much  to  the  pleasant,  cozy 
appearance.  The  teacher's  desk,  elevated 
sufficiently  from  the  floor  to  give  her  op- 
portunity to  look  down  upon  her  pupils,  and 
into  their  occupations,  stood  in  a  little  alcove 
between  the  two  doors  of  entrance.  In  front 
of  the  desk  were  a  small  table  and  a  comfort- 
able arm  chair  for  the  teacher's  special  accom- 
modation during  recitations,  and  on  either 
side  of  the  area  were  the  low  benches  for  the 
use  of  the  abecedarians  of  the  institution. 

From  the  windows  on  the  three  sides  of 
this  pleasant  room  we  may  look  out  across 
the  meadow,  and  over  the  smooth,  sandy  beach, 


THE   NEW    SCHOOL    HOUSE.  17 

upon  the  wide  expanse  of  the  deep-blue  sea. 
Just  here  the  great  Atlantic  rolls  his  heavy 
surf  upon  the  fine,  hard,  beaten  sand ;  a  little 
further  on,  it  breaks  with  fearful  roar,  scatter- 
ing its  cold,  white  foam  over  a  projecting 
ledge  of  rocks.  Now  it  is  placid  as  an  inland 
lake,  clear  and  blue  as  the  heavens  above,  in- 
nocent and  harmless  in  its  bearing  as  the 
white  sails  that  gracefully  cleave  its  calm  sur- 
face; and  anon,  tossing  in  furious  commo- 
tion, its  angry  billows,  with  their  foaming 
crests,  look  like  some  floundering  monster, 
roaring  for  its  prey.  A  grand,  imposing,  sug- 
gestive sight  is  that  vast,  heaving  ocean  on 
these  wintry  days.  It  is  a  constant  com- 
panion, a  hearty  old  friend,  affluent  in  its  store 
of  thrilling,  speechless  tales  of  beauty,  sub- 
limity, and  terror. 

Every  morning  —  we  will  not  speak  of  the 
evening — this  said  school  room  was  as  guiltless 
of  dust,  papers,  nutshells,  and  apple  cores,  as 
the  industrious,  smart  little  sweeper,  Nannie 
Cook,  could  make  it.  Nannie  and  her  brother 
t£oe  were  the  children  of  a  poor  widow  who 
lived  in  the  district,  and  were  supplied  by  the 
families  of  the  neighborhood  with  clothing  and 
books  for  taking  care  of  the  room.  Faithfully 
did  they  perform  their  part  of  the  contract. 
2 


18  THE  wj;.  if.. 

Eacn  morning,  just  as  the  sun  was  seen  com- 
ing up  from  the  blue  Atlantic,  casting  his 
earliest  rays  into  the  eastern  windows  of  the 
school  house,  Joe  was  on  hand  with  his  key 
and  ax,  splitting  the  kindlings  and  bringing 
in  the  round  hickory  logs.  And  when  the 
fire  was  well  going  and  the  wood  box  duly 
replenished,  Xannie  appeared  with  her  broom 
and  duster,  to  put  every  thing  into  nice  work- 
ing order. 

Not  the  least  charm  of  the  place  was  the 
rosy-faced,  mild-voiced  young  teacher.  She 
had  fairly  won  her  way  into  the  hearts  of  all, 
so  that  to  every  one,  from  the  infantile  lisper  of 
her  a-b-abs,  up  to  the  young  men  and  maidens 
who  sat  in  the  highest  seats  and  studied  from 
ponderous  volumes,  her  presence  was  always 
welcome.  Never  a  child  begged  to  stay  at 
home  while  Miss  More  was  the  "mist: 
Only  illness  or  an  unwonted  tempest  could 
keep  the  little  ones  from  their  accustomed 
places.  The  child  that  happened  to  overtake 
her  and  walk  to  school  by  her  side  was  the 
hero  of  the  day,  and  there  was  invariably  a 
strife  among  the  little  ones  that  went  "up 
street,"  when  school  was  done,  as  to  who 
should  walk  next  to  her  and  carry  her  copy 
books  and  pens. 


THE    NEW    SCHOOL   HOUSE.  19 

To  the  older  pupils  Miss  More  was  the 
beau  ideal  and  sum  total  of  all  excellences. 
They  respected,  admired,  and  loved  her.  And 
the  very  best  evidence  of  their  attachment 
was  their  unreserved  and  un deviating  compli- 
ance with  her  wishes  and  submission  to  her 
rule. 


20  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE  COMMITTEE   MEETING. 

How  came  Miss  More,  "the  little,  young 
thing,"  as  she  was  familiarly  styled  by  some 
of  her  mother-patrons,  to  have  charge  of  a 
winter  district  school  ?  This  is  usually  con- 
sidered work  for  a  man.  By  what  right  or 
reason  had  she  stepped  into  the  sphere  of  the 
stronger  sex  ? 

The  district,  as  we  have  already  remarked 
of  the  school  house,  was  a  new  one.  It  was 
situated  in  the  very  center  of  the  town,  hav- 
ing been  set  off  from  the  four  adjoining  dis- 
tricts because  their  circuit  was  inconveniently 
large.  The  site  for  the  building  had  been 
selected  very  near  the  village  corner,  on  the 
one  public  street,  and  the  school  would,  of 
course,  be  supplied  by  the  families  of  the  vil- 
lage—  the  aristocracy,  we  may  say,  of  this 
rural  community.  The  two  ministers,  the  two 
doctors,  the  lawyer,  the  postmaster,  the  tailor, 
the  grocers,  and  the  innkeeper  were  here  to  be 
represented  by  numerous  sons  and  daughters, 
and  it  was  allowed  to  be  the  worst-trained 


THE    COMMITTEE    MEETING.  21 

and  hardest  collection  of  children  in  all 
Campfield. 

Very  animated  was  the  discussion,  at  the 
first  meeting  of  the  newly-constituted  com- 
mittee, with  regard  to  the  prospects  of  the 
school,  and  the  selection  of  a  teacher. 

"We've  got  the  new  district  and  the  new 
house,  and  have  got  to  git  up  a  school,  I 
s'pose,"  says  Deacon  Gooch,  "but  I  don'  know 
who  we're  goin'  to  git  to  manage  'em.  They'll 
likely  tear  the  eyes  out  of  any  common  man, 
and  the  coat  off  his  back.  Jest  reckon,  now 
—  there's  a  raal  army  of  young  scamps  round 
here." 

His  own  boy  Bill  was,  no  doubt,  in  his 
mind's  eye,  though  he  made  no  personal  al- 
lusions. 

"  Oh,  well,  they  are  not  all  so  bad,  deacon," 
said  Squire  Gilmore.  "  There  are  many  good 
children  to  offset  the  bad,  and  quite  a  number 
of  young  ladies,  too,  who  wish  to  enter  the 
school.  Their  influence  will,  no  doubt,  be 
highly  beneficial." 

"  I  motion  we  get  Miss  More,  if  we  can,  her 
that  kept  the  school  up  on  the  hill  last  sum- 
mer. My  Anne  thinks  there's  nobody  on 
earth  like  her,"  said  Barnes,  the  innkeeper,  a 
hearty,  good-natured  man.  "  I  never  saw  the 


£'2  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

child  cry  so  hard  in  all  her  life  as  she  did 
when  that  school  was  done ;  and  she  wouldn't 
be  pacified,  no  way,  till  I  told  her  I'd  propose 
for  Miss  More  this  winter.  She  seemed  to 
have  a  wonderful  faculty  for  keeping  school." 

"  Whew !  a  woman  for  a  winter  school ! 
"Well,  I  guess  we  should  see  times!"  ex- 
claimed Little,  the  storekeeper,  with  mingled 
surprise  and  contempt  at  such  a  suggestion. 
He  wasn't  a  woman's-rights  man — not  he. 
"  There's  no  woman  can  tackle  my  Josh,  I'll 
be  bound  —  not  even  his  own  mother." 

"  Miss  More,  of  all  womankind ! "  added 
Mr.  Lawrence,  with  kindred  disdain.  "  Why, 
there  are  half  a  dozen  of  these  Corner  lads, 
at  least,  who  could  just  lift  the  wee  thing  in 
their  hands  and  toss  her  out  of  the  window. 
If  you're  goin'  to  get  a  woman,  do  get  some- 
body with  some  size  to  'em." 

"It  is  not  always  personal  appearance  that 
commands  respect,  brother  Lawrence,"  grave- 
ly remarked  Squire  Gilmore.  "Moral  qualities 
are  often  far  more  imposing." 

"Them  she's  got,  to  my  sartain  knowledge," 
responded  Mr.  Tuttle,  a  good,  sensible  farmer, 
from  the  outskirts  of  the  district.  "  I  never 
yet  seed  any  one  jest  so  dignified  and  perlite, 
with  such  a  little  bit  of  a  frame  to  stand  on. 


THE    COMMITTEE    MEETING.  23 

But  she's  got  a  way  with  her  that  makes  the 
youngsters  mind,  now  I  tell  ye,  and  makes  the 
old  ones  look  up  to  her  tew.  I  know  my  dar- 
ters never  went  to  school  where  they  larned 
so  much,  manners  included,  as  they  did  to 
hern  last  summer  on  the  hill.  They'd  give 
all  their  old  shoes  to  have  her  back  here 
agin." 

"  Well,  now,  I  want  to  know,"  asked  Dea- 
con Gooch,  "what  you're  a-goin'  to  do  with 
that  boy  of  Hill's,  and  Sam  Perkins,  and  that 
half  fool,  Luther  Lewis,  and  Tom  Hatch,  and 
the  rest  of  them  great  fellers,  when  they  put 
their  heads  together  for  mischief.  And  there's 
my  boy,  too,  I  might  as  well  own  up,  he  isn't 
slow  when  there's  any  fun  goin'  on.  I  guess 
there'll  be  breakers  when  you  git  them  all 
cuttin'  up  their  tantrums.  It'll  take  more 
than  that  teenty-taunty  creater  to  make  'em 
behave.  How  is  she  a-goin'  to  thrash  them 
great  heavy  fellers?  I  tell«ye,  she  won't  stay 
in  the  place  three  days.  You'll  have  to  git  a 
good  stout  man,  and  give  him  a  fresh  cow- 
hide every  week,  if  you're  a-goin'  to  have 
school  here." 

"You  judge  the  boys  too  harshly,  I  fear," 
replied  Squire  Gilmore.  "I  think  there  is  not 
one  of  them  but  would  respect  a  woman,  and 


24  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

a  lady,  like  Miss  More.  I  know  they  always 
'  try  the  master,'  as  they  call  it,  to  see  if  he  is 
one  whom  they  can  respect  and  must  obey. 
But  I  hardly  think  there  would  be  any  at- 
tempt of  that  sort  with  her." 

"  I  like  the  idea,  gentlemen,"  spoke  the  ReVc 
JMr.  Osborne,  who  had  been  invited  to  the 
meeting,  and  had  thus  far  listened  in  silence 
to  the  discussion, — "I  like  the  idea  of  inviting 
a  lady  to  take  the  charge  of  our  new  school. 
The  novelty  of  the  thing,  —  it  having  been 
your  custom  previously  to  have  a  gentleman 
teacher  for  your  winter  schools,  —  the  novel- 
ty of  the  thing,  I  say,  would  attract.  I  would 
suggest,  also,  as  gentlemen  —  I  would  rather 
say  male  —  teachers  are  prone  to  be  abrupt  in 
their  manners,  and  rough  and  severe  in  their 
treatment  of  children,  not  having  naturally  a 
tender  sympathy  with  childhood,  that  the  ex- 
periment of  employing  a  lady  will  very  prob- 
ably succeed,  for  gne  term  at  least.  And  as 
to  the  lady  in  question,  it  is  my  opinion  that 
a  better  appointment  could  not  be  made.  I 
am  well  acquainted  with  Miss  More,  and  with 
her  very  worthy  and  respectable  family.  I 
know  her  to  be  a  young  person  of  talents  and 
good  education,  of  integrity  and  sound  prin- 
cipje.  Her  amiable  disposition  and  refine- 


THE    COMMITTEE   MEETING.  25 

ment  of  manners  will  be  very  much  in  her 
favor  in  the  management  of  the  school,  and  I 
believe  will  have  a  subduing  and  mollifying 
effect  upon  the  boisterous  spirits  of  the  rude 
and  ill-trained  children,  to  whom  allusion  has 
been  made.  Moreover,  she  is  a  person  of 
devoted  piety,  and  will  discharge  her  duties 
in  the  fear  of  the  Lord ;  and  permit  me  to  say 
gentlemen,  that  I  consider  this  qualification 
of  the  highest  moment  —  the  highest  moment. 
For  a  person,  gentlemen,  who  has  not  the  fear 
of  God  before  his  eyes  and  in  his  heart,  is  not, 
in  my  estimation,  a  safe  person  with  whom  to 
intrust  any  enterprise,  and  especially  the  im- 
portant work  of  educating  our  children." 

Upon  the  delivery  of  this  address,  to  which 
of  course,  as  a  matter  of  courtesy,  all  assented, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Osborne  withdrew,  and  the  vote 
was  immediately  taken.  It  was  almost  unan- 
imous in  favor  of  Miss  More,  although  several 
had  still  their  misgivings  with  regard  to  the 
result. 

"  We  can  try  her,"  said  Deacon  Gooch,  with 
an  air  of  submission.  "  'Tisn't  at  all  likely 
she'll  accept,  though." 

"Not  a  bit,"  rejoined  Little.  "If  she's  got 
a  thimbleful  of  prudence  I'm  sure  she  won't. 
She'll  be  afeard  to  undertake  such  a  job." 


26  THE    WIXTEE    SCHOOL. 

"  She  don'  know  the  fellers  she'll  havf  to 
deal  with,  ye  see,  till  she  tries  'em,"  said  Mr. 
Lawrence.  "  She  can  come,  if  she  likes ;  but 
you'd  better  believe  she'll  be  glad  enough  to 
quit.  If  she  gits  hold  of  them  big  boys  once, 
she'll  drop  'em  like  a  hot  potatur." 

"  I  believe,  brother  Lawrence,"  said  Squire 
Gilmore,  in  his  bland,  persuasive  tones,  — 
(these  gentlemen  were  brothers  in  the  church, 
and  Squire  Gilmore  always  chose  to  use  this 
Christian  and  affectionate  style  of  address, 
especially  when  there  was  need  of  concilia- 
tion,) —  "I  have  faith  to  believe,  brother 
Lawrence,  that  all  will  soon  come  out  right, 
and  that  our  new  school  will  be  a  grand  suc- 
cess —  the  pride  of  our  town,  as  the  school 
building  itself  is.  I  think  Miss  More  has 
qualities  of  intellect  ami  heart,  and  of  out- 
ward manner,  which  will  secure  the  respect 
and  affection  of  her  pupils,  and  obedience  will 
then  be  sure  to  follow.  Let  us  not  prophesy 
evil.  We  will  quietly  wait  her  answer,  and 
if  she  accepts  our  offer,  we  will  suspend  our 
judgment  until  time  shall  prove  her  capa- 
bilities." 


THE    GRAND    CONDITION.  27 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   GRAND  CONDITION. 

SQUIRE  GILMORE,  in  virtue  of  his  superior 
education  among  his  towns-people,  and  of  his 
position  in  society,  being  secretary  of  the 
committee,  wrote  the  invitation,  and  in  due 
time  Mr.  Sheffield,  the  Campfield  postmaster, 
handed  him  a  letter. 

"  An  answer  to  your  call,  squire,"  said  he. 
"  We'll  all  be  anxious  to  hear  what  it  is." 

The  committee  were  at  once  summoned  to 
hear  this  important  communication. 

B ,  Nov.  15,  185-. 

H.  T.  GILMORE,  ESQ. 

Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  10th  instant  was 
promptly  received. 

I  thank  you  for  the  tribute  of  esteem  you 
have  rendered  me,  in  the  offer  which  I  have 
received. 

I  will  accept  the  situation  with  pleasure,  on 
one  condition  —  that  you  will  allow  me  to  be 
untrammeled  in  my  method  of  instruction 
and  government.  I  do  not  approve  of  cor- 


28  THE    WIXTEK    SCHOOL. 

poral  punishment,  and  could  not,  on  any  con- 
sideration, undertake  to  administer  it.  Let 
me  have  a  fair  understanding  on  this  point. 

Your  terms  are  satisfactory.  Of  the  two 
boarding  places  you  mention,  I  should  prefer 
the  family  of  Rev.  Mr.  Wade. 

Respectfully  yours, 

A.  B.  MORE. 

"  She's  wise  enough  to  be  a  little  bit  cau- 
tious," says  Mr.  Lawrence,  as  the  squire 
folded  the  letter.  "  She  knows  well  enough 
she  couldn't  tackle  them  great  boys." 

"You  see  she  ain't  fit  for  the  place.  She 
can't  whip  'em ;  but  they'll  never  git  along 
without  it,  squire,  in  the  world.  You  know 
they  won't,"  added  Deacon  Gooch,  as  positive 
as  ever.  ""Why,  did  ye  ever  see  a  child  that 
could  git  on  without  a  beatin'  ?  You  know 
what  the  Bible  says  on  that  pint  —  'Spare 
'the  rod  and  spile  the  child.'" 

"  She  never  can  git  along  so — now,  don't 
you  see  she  can't,  Squire  Gilmore  ?  "  said  Mr. 
Little,  the  father  of  the  unruly  Josh.  "  Let 
alone  her  not  whipping  'em,  she  just  goes  and 
tells  'em  she  shan't,  to  start  with.  Why,  if 
the  boys  gits  hold  of  that,  they'll  jist  ride  right 
over  her  rough  shod." 


THE    GEAND    CONDITION.  29 

"  She  would  be  quite  as  badly  off,  in  my 
estimation,"  replied  the  squire,  "if  she  did 
not  tell  them  of  her  determination,  for  she  is 
certainly  physically  incapable,  as  you  sug- 
gested at  our  first  meeting,  of  flogging  boys 
larger  and  stronger  than  herself.  It  is  my 
opinion,  however,  still,  that  moral  suasion,  in 
her  case,  will  be  altogether  sufficient.  I  am 
not  prepared  to  say  that  corporal  punishment 
should  be  altogether  banished  from  our  school 
system,  but  I  think  Miss  More  displays  a 
proper  judgment  in  declining  it  for  herself. 
Perhaps,  upon  the  whole,  it  would  be  advisa- 
ble, at  the  first,  not  to  inform  the  boys  of  the 
fact,  lest  some  malicious  spirit  should  take  ad- 
vantage of  it  to  disturb  and  annoy  her." 

"Let  her  come,  let  her  come,"  cried  Mr. 
Tuttle,  rubbing  his  hands  and  ejecting  his 
words  in  the  most  vehement  manner.  "And 
I  say,  let  her  have  her  own  way  tew.  Let's 
see  how  she'll  manage.  I  warrant  ye  'twill 
be  a  great  speritual  victory.  If  she  conquers 
them  boys  with  a  word  and  a  look,  if  they're 
as  bad  as  these  gentlemen  say,  why,  it'll  be 
one  of  the  nine  wonders  of  the  world  —  a 
spectacle  to  be  looked  at.  Now  try  it.  For 
my  part,  I  don-  know  nothin'  about  boys,  — 
mine  are  all  darters,  —  only  folks  says'  they're 


30  THE    WIXTEK    SCHOOL. 

harder  to  manage.  And  I  don'  know  nothin' 
about  these  'Corner  boys'  ye  tell  about,  I 
live  so  fur  off;  but  I  think  a  sight  of  Miss 
More,  and  I  say,  try  her." 

So  Squire  Gilmore  was  authorized  to  accept 
Miss  More  on  her  own  conditions,  but  advised 
to  suggest  to  her  the  propriety  of  keeping 
her  plan  of  operations  a  secret  from  the  boys. 
TTith  a  firm  conviction  of  the  security  of  her 
position  and  a  natural  ingenuousness  of  char- 
acter, she  replied  that  she  would  never  hold 
a  rod  over  the  head  of  her  pupils  which  she 
did  not  mean  to  use,  that  she  felt  much  safer 
in  trusting  to  their  honor  than  to  their  fear, 
and  that  if  she  found  boys  in  her  school  that 
she  could  not  subdue,  she  would  send  them 
to  their  parents  for  the  needed  chastisement. 

So  the  young  lady,  as  they  say  women  al- 
ways do,  had  her  own  way ;  and  though  the 
boys  of  Campfield  Corner  had  the  reputation 
of  being  the  worst  in  town,  though  the  com- 
mittee were  critical,  and  the  parents  exacting, 
she  complacently  undertook  the  difficult  task. 


A   GREAT    SURPRISE.  31 

CHAPTER  V. 

A  GREAT  SURPRISE. 

AT  the  time  appointed  the  young  teacher 
entered  upon  her  duties,  recognizing  no  diffi 
culty  or  danger  in  her  path,  but  walking  right 
onward,  trusting  in  the  Lord.  She  threw 
herself  at  once  upon  the  self-respect  and 
honor  of  her  pupils. 

"I  do  not  consider  you  as  children,"  she 
remarked  to  the  older  classes  on  the  opening 
day  of  the  session,  "  but  as  young  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  and  you  will  behave,  of  course,  as 
such.  Your  example  will  constitute  the  pub- 
lic opinion  of  the  school.  If  you  are  atten- 
tive and  diligent,  regardful  of  my  wishes,  the 
younger  classes  will  prove  themselves  also 
docile  and  tractable.  This  will  make  my 
work  easy  and  delightful,  and  your  daily 
occupations  a  pleasure.  Make  my  wish  your 
law,  and  we  shall  have  no  hinderance  to  the 
prosecution  of  our  several  duties.  You  will 
learn  rapidly,  and  I  shall  be  greatly  aided  in 
imparting  instruction." 

Such  doctrine  was  new  in  the  schools  of 


32  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

Campfield,  where  the  young  people  had  been 
used  to  having  inkstands  thrown  at  their 
heads  and  birches  broken  over  their  shoulders. 
They  opened  their  eyes  in  wonder,  and  cast 
significant  glances  at  one  another.  But  it 
proved  itself  wholesome  doctrine,  for  the  pu- 
pils instantly  put  themselves  upon  their  good 
behavior,  and  seemed  to  vie  with  one  another 
in  punctuality,  studiousness,  and  correctness 
of  deportment ;  they  seemed  solicitous  to  at- 
test their  right  to  the  title  of  gentleman  and 
lady. 

"  Xobody  ever  called  us  gentlemen  before," 
said  Sidney  Barnes,  at  recess.  "  Old  Burns 
always  called  us  young  rascals  or  fools.  I 
like  to  be  treated  as  if  I  was  somebody,  and 
I  mean  that  she  shall  see  I  am." 

"  We  couldn't  find  it  in  our  hearts,  I'm 
sure,"  said  Tristram  Gilmore,  "  to  trouble  her, 
she  seems  so  pleasant  and  good  natured.  I 
do  hope  the  boys  will  behave  themselves." 

"  There's  no  danger  of  the  girls,"  said  Bes- 
sie Simonson.  "  We  know  what's  what,  and 
we  like  her  too  well,  too,  not  to  please  her. 
I  shall  do  my  part."  Bessie  was  the  oldest 
young  lady  in  the  school,  and  well  she  knew 
that  all  eyes,  on  the  girh*  side  of  the  house 
at  least,  would  be  fixed  on  her.  There's  no 


A   GEEAT    SURPEISE.  33 

danger  of  her,  reader.  She  is  a  good  girl, 
with  gentle,  winning  manners.  She  is  a  fa- 
vorite in  her  own  class,  and  the  little  ones 
look  up  to  her  with  a  feeling  of  admiration 
and  real  devotion.  She  always  has  a  bevy  of 
them  about  her  at  recess,  clinging  to  her 
arms,  petting  her  long  black  curls,  or  fondling 
the  soft  white  hand.  There's  no  danger  but 
she  will  lead  off  her  side  of  the  house  in  the 
right  direction. 

"It  will  only  be  a  pleasure,"  she  added, 
"  to  do  all  she  wants  us  to." 

"  She  never  wants  us  to  do  any  thing  we 
can't  do,"  said  Rebecca  Gilmore,  a  cousin  of 
Tristram's.  We  will  just  linger  to  say  that 
Rebecca  was  the  youngest  of  seven  daugh- 
ters, and  was  supposed  to  have  profited  by 
the  wisdom,  and  experience,  and  dictation  of 
all  her  older  sisters.  So  you  will  not  be  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  this  young  lady  of  six- 
teen, though  rather  prim  and  precise  in  her 
manners,  was  ever  correct  in  her  school  de- 
meanor. 

"  We've  been  to  school  to  Miss  More,"  she 
continued,  "  all  summer,  and  we  know  her 
well.  She'll  never  require  any  thing  hard." 

"  Why,  don't  she  never  give  you  hard  les- 
sons ?  "  asked  little  Harry  Lawrence. 
3 


34  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"Why,  yes,  Harry;  but  when  the  lessons 
look  hard,  we  always  try  the  harder,  you 
know,  and  that  makes  them  grow  easy,"  re- 
plied Rebecca. 

"  Well,  now,  supposing  a  fellow  can't  do  a 
sum,  —  and  there's  awful  hard  ones  in  my 
book,  —  what'll  she  do  then  ?  " 

"  Oh,  she'll  explain  them  to  you,  Harry,  and 
make  them  so  clear,  you  can't  help  under- 
standing them;  and  then  you'll  get  along 
finely." 

"  That  wasn't  the  way  old  Burns  did,"  re- 
joined Sidney.  "He  beat  it  in  through  our 
brains  or  our  knuckles,  or  else  it  never  got  in." 

Miss  More  not  only  appealed  to  a  sense  of 
honor  in  her  pupils,  and  to  their  affection, 
which  she  sought  to  win  with  every  gentle 
and  familiar  way,  —  there  was  one  source  of 
help  upon  which  she  relied  over  and  above 
all  these.  She  believed  that  no  labor  could 
succeed  without  the  favor  and  smile  of  God, 
and  to  him  she  looked  and  upon  him  she 
leaned  with  humble,  earnest,  child-like  confi- 
dence. "Except  the  Lord  build  the  house^ 
they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it,"  she  was  ac- 
customed to  say.  She  prayed  for  heavenly 
wisdom  for  herself,  that  she  might  be  "  apt  to 
teach,  gentle,  and  patient."  For  her  pupils 


A    GKEAT    SURPRISE.  85 

she  besought  docility  of  spirit,  amiableness  of 
temper,  vivacity  of  intellect.  And  she  trusted 
in  Him  who  has  proclaimed  himself  the  hearer 
and  answerer  of  prayer,  that  he  would  crown 
her  efforts  with  success. 

She  improved  her  opportunity  also  to  exert 
a  religious  influence  upon  the  youthful  minds 
clustering  around  her,  for  their  present  and 
daily  benefit,  but  no  less  for  their  future  and 
enduring  good.  She  gave  them  daily  reli- 
gious instruction,  plied  them  with  the  purest 
motives,  wrought  with  their  consciences,  edu- 
cated their  understandings.  Every  morning 
she  read  and  briefly  enforced  some  practical 
portion  of  the  Holy  Word,  and  prayed  for  the 
presence  and  aid  of  God's  Spirit  in  their  daily 
duties.  Each  evening,  before  the  school  was 
closed,  she  reserved  a  half  hour  for  some 
moral  or  religious  lesson.  Sometimes  it  was 
a  Bible  narrative,  explained  and  applied.  At 
other  times  she  selected  some  choice,  attrac- 
tive story.  Then,  again,  it  would  be  a  familiar 
talk  on  some  subject  which  she  saw  to  be  ap- 
propriate to  their  needs.  She  watched  her 
pupils,  their  conduct  in  and  out  of  school, 
their  temper  toward  each  other,  and  treasured 
up  each  striking  incident  as  a  text  for  future 
instruction. 


36  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

So  the  young  teacher,  who  had  excited  so 
many  fears  among  the  well-wishing  country 
people,  proved  satisfactorily  that  a  gentle 
spirit  in  a  leader,  and  self-go vernment  among 
the  led,  will  bring  about  most  happy  and  suc- 
cessful results.  For  never  was  there  a  school 
burdened  with  fewer  rules  and  restrictions, 
controlled  by  a  milder  discipline,  or  annoyed 
by  less  misdemeanor,  than  this. 

Squire  Gilmore  was  gratified.  Good  Mr. 
Tuttle  exulted.  Deacon  Gooch  said  he  would 
withhold  his  judgment  till  the  end  of  the  term. 
The  other  opponents  became  quiet.  "A  new 
broom,"  they  said,  "  sweeps  clean."  Still  no 
one  threw  any  impediment  in  her  way,  and 
things  went  on  smoothly  and  tranquilly. 


CATCHING  A   SUNBEAM.  37 


CHAPTER   VI. 

CATCHING  A  SUNBEAM. 

BY  one  of  the  southern  windows  in  this 
pleasant  school  room  sat  Anna  Little,  a  sis- 
ter of  the  indomitable  Josh,  who  had  never 
yet  been  subdued  by  woman.  Reader,  lend 
your  ear  a  moment.  If  we  might  dare  to 
reveal  a  secret,  we  should  say,  that  since  the 
boy  had  been  under  Miss  More's  tutelage,  he 
had  been  brought  to  the  very  verge  of  such  a 
catastrophe.  But  Anna  was  not  at  all  like 
her  brother.  She  was  always  submissive  — 
"  a  good  scholar,"  by  the  consent  of  all.  If 
you  just  catch  a  glance  of  her  little  dumpy 
figure,  you  may  take  her  to  be  a  woman  of 
thirty;  but  when  you  look  right  into  her  fair, 
handsome  face,  you  will  forget  all  that,  in  the 
fascination  of  her  sweet  blue  eyes  and  rosy 
cheeks.  But  externals  aside,  they  are  of  little 
consequence.  Anna  was  a  brilliant  scholar. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen,  with  only  the  advan- 
tages of  country  schools,  she  could  have  put 
to  shame  many  an  older  girl  in  our  best  insti- 


38  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

tutions.  She  was  pious,  too,  and  that  is  worth 
more  than  any  thing  else. 

There  she  sits  this  morning,  studying  her 
lesson  in  Natural  Philosophy,  with  a  prism, 
which  she  has  brought  for  experiments  in  the 
class,  lying  on  ^he  desk  before  her.  The  cur- 
tain is  looped  back  from  the  window,  out  of 
which  she  casts  occasional  admiring  glances 
at  the  unbroken  expanse  of  ice-sheeted  snow, 
glistening  in  the  sunlight  of  this  beautiful 
morning.  All  is  quiet,  for  it  is  the  silent 
study-hour. 

But  the  sun  outside  is  steadily  pressing  on 
to  the  meridian,  and  presently  a  ray  slanting 
in  at  her  window  falls  upon  the  little  prism, 
when,  as  by  magic,  a  rainbow-hued,  quiver- 
ing, beautiful  spectrum  shines  on  the  oppo- 
site wall. 

"  Oh,  oh,  oh ! "  involuntarily  issued  from  the 
baby  lips  behind  the  stove ;  and  "  Oh,  oh, 
Miss  More!-"  resounded  from  the  opposite 
seat. 

"  Look  there,  look  there,  Miss  More !  what 
is  it  ?  where  did  it  come  from  ?  "  shouted  the 
little  ones. 

In  a  twinkling  the  eyes  that  had  been  so 
intent  on  book  and  slate  were  upward  gaz- 
ing, but  not  all  at  the  beautiful  appearance 


CATCHING   A  SUNBEAM. 


CATCHING   A    SUNBEAM.  89 

before  them.  Luther  Lewis,  the  simpleton, 
who  occupied  a  seat  with  the  large  boys, 
although  in  intellect  he  was  scarcely  above 
babyhood,  had  caught  sight  of  the  bright, 
airy  presentation  on  the  wall,  and,  standing 
upon  his  feet,  his  frouzy  head  thrown  back, 
with  eyes  and  mouth  wide  open,  and  hands 
outstretched,  he  was  in  the  act  of  springing 
to  catch  it.  A  titter  was  heard  from  every 
side  of  the  room.  The  teacher  herself  could 
but  smile  at  the  amusing  spectacle,  and  Anna, 
the  unsuspected  cause  of  the  disturbance, 
yielded  for  a  moment  to  her  mirthful  pro- 
pensities, and  prolonged  the  fun.  Taking 
the  prism,  unobserved,  in  her  hand,  by  dex- 
terous movements  she  rapidly  and  repeatedly 
changed  the  locality  of  the  phantasm,  and 
made  it  dance  in  swift  and  ever-varying  mo- 
tion around  the  room.  Now  it  alighted  upon 
the  wall,  now  on  the  desks,  here,  there,  and 
every  where  in  a  moment ;  and  poor  Luther, 
frantic  with  eager  delight,  was  darting  after 
it  in  every  direction,  the  contortions  of  his 
face,  his  violent,  spasmodic  efforts,  and  his 
constant  disappointments,  producing  upon 
him  the  most  ludicrous  effect.  The  school 
was  in  a  rising  tempest  of  merriment. 
It  fell  on  a  boy's  head  directly  before  the 


40  THE    WINTEB    SCHOOL. 

poor  innocent,  and  aiming  a  tremendous  blow 
he  thought  he  had  now  surely  secured  it. 

"  That's  my  head,  sir,"  exclaimed  the  unfor- 
tunate sufferer. 

Luther  looked  in  his  hand  to  see  what  he 
had  got,  and  lo,  nothing  was  there;  but  the 
beautiful  object  he  so  much  desired  was  dan- 
cing on  the  wall  at  his  side. 

"  I'll  have  you,  I  will,"  cried  the  overgrown 
child ;  and  in  his  -excitement  he  sprang,  with 
force  enough  to  have  slain  an  enemy,  both 
hands  open,  to  reach  the  prize,  when,  behold, 
again  it  had  vanished,  and,  the  next  instant, 
was  blinding  his  very  eyes,  as  if  in  mockery 
of  his  misery. 

"  There,  sit  down,  now,  Luther,"  said  Miss 
More,  after  the  performance  of  sundry  evo- 
lutions of  this  sort;  "you  see  you  can't 
catch  it." 

"  What  is  it  ?  I  want  it,  I  must  —  I  will " 
—  cried  the  boy,  as,  almost  spent  with  his 
exertion,  he  seated  himself,  and  looked  about 
wildly  to  get  sight  of  it  again. 

At  that  moment,  by  a  well-directed  move- 
ment, Anna  laid  the  pretty  thing  in  the  boy's 
hand.  With  an  expression  of  the  most  in- 
tense childish  delight,  he  closed  his  hand, 
when  lo,  it  was  no  longer  within,  but  smiled 


CATCHING    A    STJJTBEAM.  41 

up  into  his  face  from  the  outside  of  his  rough, 
hard  fist.  Oh,  cruel  witchery  !  The  poor  fel- 
low fairly  cried  with  disappointment  and  vex- 
ation. Anna  laid  aside  the,,  prism,  and  Miss 
More  soon  called  order  out  of  confusion. 

"  Poor  fellow,"  said  she,  "  he  has  been  chas- 
ing a  sunbeam,  and  cries  because  he  can  not 
grasp  it.  But  he  is  no  more  simple  than  we 
are,  who  daily  seek  happiness  from  mere  self- 
ish gratifications.  It  eludes  our  grasp  just  as 
certainly,  and  leaves  us,  too,  with  an  empty, 
aching  heart." 

The  older  scholars  listened  with  marked 
attention  as  their  teacher  drew  this  brief 
moral  from  the  amusing  incident,  and  in  a 
few  moments  all  were  again  busy  with  their 
studies. 

When  the  exercises  of  the  day  were  over, 
and  the  pupils  of  the  new  school  were  wait- 
ing with  clasped  hands  and  quiet  attitude  for 
the  teaching  of  the  day,  Miss  More  took  occa- 
sion to  improve  this  incident  by  a  few  simple, 
impressive  remarks.  She  told  them  how  ev- 
ery body  was  eagerly  running  after  happiness, 
making  that  the  very  object  and  aim  of  life, 
while  it  constantly  eluded  the  pursuer,  or,  if 
obtained,  proved  vain  and  unsatisfactory. 

"  The  aim  of  life,"  she  said,  "  should  be  vir- 


42  THE    \VIXTEB    SCHOOL. 

tue,  purity,  usefulness.  In  loving  God,  in 
striving  to  be  like  him,  in  endeavors  to  do 
right  ourselves,  and  to  benefit  those  around 
us,  we  are  reaching  the  true  end  of  our  ex- 
istence, and  shall  certainly  gain  unalloyed, 
lasting,  and  ever-increasing  happiness.  And 
though  these  noble  pursuits  may  lead  us 
through  self-denials,  difficulties,  and  toils,  we 
must  not  shrink,  but  press  on  to  the  rich 
reward  that  surely  awaits  us  at  the  end. 

"Young  people  are  apt  to  think  that  if 
they  become  Christians,  they  must  sacrifice  all 
their  joys,  and  that  a  life  of  usefulness  is  dry 
and  barren.  But  they  are  mistaken.  You, 
my  dear  pupils,  may  enjoy  every  thing  that 
the  world  can  give,  and  you  will  be  sure  to 
say  at  the  last,  in  Christ's  own  words,  « What  is 
a  man  profited  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  his  own  soul  ? '  You  will  have  pre- 
cisely the  experience  that  Luther  had  this 
morning,  when  he  chased  the  sunbeam  around 
the  room  until  he  was  weary,  and  cried  be- 
cause he  could  not  get  it." 

Many  of  the  scholars  went  home  that 
evening  with  deep  and  serious  impressions, 
gravely  deliberating  within  themselves  how 
they  might  serve  God  and  their  fellow-crea- 


CATCHING    A    SUXBEAM.  41i 

tures,   and    secure   a  true   and  lasting  hap- 
piness. 

^None  reflected  more  solemnly  or  to  better 
purpose  than  Tristram  Gilmore ;  and  this 
was  the  beginning  out  of  which  grew  a  great 
good. 


•14  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

FIRST   FRUITS. 

Ox  the  morning  on  which  we  introduced  our 
young  friend  Tristram  to  our  readers,  he  had 
started  for  school  with  an  earnest  determina- 
tion to  carry  out,  if  possible,  the  suggestions 
of  usefulness  which  had  been  made  by  the 
teacher  on  the  previous  evening. 

"  I  don't  know,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  exactly 
how  to  begin,  or  where  to  go  to  work.  But 
I'll  watch,  and  perhaps  I  shall  find  a  chance 
for  something." 

As  he  followed  Miss  More  and  the  rushing 
troop  of  his  companions  into  the  school  room 
on  that  occasion,  walking  thoughtfully  across 
the  entry  and  up  the  aisle  which  led  to  his 
seat,  suddenly  it  flashed  upon  his  mind, 
"Here's  my  chance  —  now  I  can  do  some 
good. 

"  I  have  it,"  said  he,  audibly ;  "  now  I'll 
strike. 

"Sidney — Sid"  —  he  called  in  a  loud 
whisper  to  his  friend  and  classmate,  who  had 
already  reached  his  desk.  "  Look  here,  Sid.  I 


FIRST   FEUITS.  45 

want  to  speak  to  you  a  minute.  I  think 
smoking  and  chewing  are  getting  quite  the 
go  here  in  school,  lately.  Have  you  noticed  ? 
I  wish  we  could  do  something  to  stop  them. 
Father  says  tobacco  is  almost  as  bad  as  rum, 
and  it's  a  shame  for  these  little  bits  of  boys 
to  learn  such  ways.  I  say,  Sidney,  can't  we 
do  something  ?  " 

"  If  Miss  More  knew  it,  I  warrant  you  she'd 
talk  to  'em  some.  Supposing  we  tell  her, 
Tris." 

"  No,  no ;  we  don't  want  to  go  tattling. 
Besides,  'twould  be  ever  so  much  better  to  do 
it  ourselves.  You  know  what  she  told  us  last 
night.  Now  let's  see  if  we  can't  think  of 
some  way  to  stop  this  ourselves." 

"  Draw  up  a  pledge,  Tris,  and  make  'em  all 
sign  it ;  just  like  our  cold-water  pledge,  you 
know." 

The  sound  of  the  bell  at  that  moment,  call- 
ing the  school  to  order,  arrested  the  conversa- 
tion ;  but  the  suggestion  of  a  pledge  dropped 
down  into  a  very  snug  corner  of  Tristram's 
noble  heart,  and  was  treasured  up  there  for 
future  consideration.  Algebra  and  geometry 
occupied  all  his  attention  for  the  present,  for, 
like  the  faithful  student  that  he  was,  he  never 
allowed  pleasure  or  interest  of  any  sort  for- 


46  THE    WLNTTER    SCHOOL. 

eign  to  his  school  duties  to  interfere  with 
them. 

What  a  comfort  and  joy  such  pupils  are  to 
their  instructors  I  How  easy  and  pleasant  it 
is  to  teach  them !  Such  are  the  "favorites" 
in  school ;  and  how  can  it  be  otherwise  ?  A 
lazy,  careless  boy,  who  is  never  at  his  seat 
when  the  bell  rings,  who  is  always  the  last  in 
the  recitation  room,  lagging  along,  studying 
as  he  goes,  because  he  has  neglected  to  learn 
his  lesson  at  the  proper  time,  who  is  always 
ready  to  eat,  or  whisper,  or  play,  or  break 
some  rule,  when  the  teacher's  eye  is  not  full 
upon  him,  complains  that  his  teacher  is  cross 
and  partial.  "  The  teacher  has  favorites,"  he 
says,  "  and  it's  of  no  use  for  me  to  try  to  do 
any  thing.  He  don't  like  me." 

Of  course  he  does  not,  little  boy.  How 
can  you  expect  him  to?  If  you  wrere  a  teacher, 
do  you  think  you  would  like  a  boy  that  was 
always  doing  wrong,  giving  you  trouble,  and 
vexing  you  in  every  conceivable  way?  No> 
indeed,  you  would  not.  But  the  boy  that 
is  always  correct  in  every  thing,  with  good 
lessons  and  good  conduct  every  day  —  ah, 
that's  the  one  that  you  would  like.  You 
would  pick  out  such  a  one  from  all  the  rest, 
and  consider  it  a  pleasure  to  instruct  him,  and 


FIRST    FRUITS.  47 

you  wouldn't  be  able  to  hide  your  preference 
either.  Of  course  you  would  show  it. 

So,  then,  for  you  to  stand  there  grumbling, 
and  complaining  that  your  teacher  is  "real 
cross,"  is  only  to  proclaim  to  every  one  that 
you  are  a  bad  boy  in  school.  When  you  say 
that  he  favors  Henry  Jones  and  likes  him 
best,  you  are  only  telling  your  friends  that 
Henry  Jones  is  a  better  boy  than  you  are. 
Now,  if  I  were  in  your  place,  instead  of  doing 
this,  I  would  turn  right  about,  and  be  a  good 
boy  myself.  I'd  mind  every  rule,  and  take  an 
interest  in  all  my  lessons,  and  try  to  please 
my  teacher,  and  see  if  I  couldn't  make  him 
love  me  as  well  as  Henry.  Try  this  plan,  my 
little  friend,  and  see  if  it  doesn't  work  well. 

That  day  at  "  fifteen  minutes'  recess,"  while 
the  majority  of  the  school  were  taking  a  frolic 
out  of  doors  in  the  snow,  a  few  of  the  older 
and  more  sedate  scholars  were  gathered  about 
the  stove  in  grave  consultation. 

"I  like  what  you  said  this  morning,  Sid, 
first  rate,"  said  Tristram,  "  and  I  believe  we 
might  form  a  society  like  a  temperance  society, 
you  know,  or  anti-slavery,  and  get  the  boys 
to  join  it,  as  many  as  we  can,  and  —  " 

"  Girls  too,  as  to  that,"  interrupted  Sidney, 
"for  I'm  sure  women  use  tobacco.  They 


48  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

snuff  it,"  he  added  laughing,  and  suiting  the 
action  to  the  word,  in  the  drollest  manner 
imaginable,  in  the  mean  time  casting  sly  glances 
at  the  girls  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  stove. 

"You  needn't  look  at  me,"  replied  Anna 
Little.  "  You'd  never  catch  me  doing  such  a 
nasty  thing." 

"  Oh,  not  now,  Miss  Little ;  but  may  be  when 
you're  an  old  lady,  you  know,  and  want  some- 
thing to  please  you,  and  don't  know  what  to 
do,  why,  then  you  might.  Old  women  never 
do  any  thing  but  knit  and  take  snuff." 

"I  think  you  are  not  acquainted  with  all 
the  old  ladies,  Sidney  Barnes,"  said  Miss  Gil- 
more,  with  an  air  of  offended  pride.  "  Do  you 
know  aunt  Xancy,  who  lives  at  Mrs.  Osborne's? 
Do  you  know  good  old  Grandma  Sheffield,  up 
on  the  hill  ?  Do  you  know  Miss  Phebe  Quin, 
at  the  lower  corner  ?  Do  you  know  my  grand 
mother,  Sidney  Barnes  ?  " 

"  Oh,  well,  never  mind  Sidney's  fun,"  said 
Tristram,  in  a  conciliatory  tone.  "  Of  course 
you  wouldn't  use  snuff  now  or  ever ;  but  some 
might,  you  know." 

"Why,  Sidney's  behind  the  times,"  re- 
marked Miss  Simonson,  "  to  think  that  ladies 
of  any  pretensions  to  refinement  would  take 
snuff,  though  it's  not  an  uncommon  thing  for 


FIRST   FKUITS.  49 

the  most  elegant  to  use  tobacco.  Cigarettes 
are  the  fashion  now,  and  dipping." 

"Why,  what  do  you  mean,  Bessie?"  ex- 
claimed several  at  once.  "  Do  tell  us." 

"  I  can't  now ;  there  isn't  time.  See,  the 
bell  is  just  going  to  ring  But  I'll  tell  you 
one  of  these  days.  When  you  get  the  society 
formed,  you  invite  me  to  deliver  a  lecture. 

"  By  the  way,  Tristram,"  added  the  young 
lady,  as  she  was  proceeding  to  her  desk,  "  you 
are  doing  welk  |  This  is  a  good  idea  of  yours. 
I'll  join  your  society,  and  I'll  try  to  help  you 
all  I  can;"  and  her  pleasant  smile  and  en- 
couraging words  strengthened  Tristram  won- 
derfully in  his  prospective  undertaking. 

"  I  will  too,  Tristram,"  said  the  gentle  Lucy 
Clark,  the  very  sweetest,  loveliest  girl  in  all 
the  school.  "I  am  not  afraid  of  ever  being 
led  into  using  tobacco  myself,  but  I've  got 
brothers,  you  know,  and  if  I  sign  the  pledge, 
Benajah  will,  and  Josiah,  and  Marcus." 

The  bell  sounded,  and  a  crowd  of  little 
folks,  with  blue  noses  and  benumbed  fingers, 
came  rushing  in,  stamping  their  snowy  feet, 
as  they  jostled  and  pushed  their  way  to  the 
stove  to  warm.  Our  young  reformers,  with 
hearts  full  of  warmth  and  zeal  in  the  benevo- 
4 


50  THE    WINTEB    SCHOOL. 

lent  scheme  they  were  projecting,  retired  to 
their  seats. 

"  I'll  draw  up  the  pledge  right  off,"  said 
Tristram,  "an£  then  we'll  offer  it  to  every 
scholar." 

"All  right,"  replied  Sidney;  "and  we'll 
carry  the  school,  I  almost  know." 

The  boys  were  sanguine,  as  youthful  hearts 
are  apt  to  be. 

i 


THE    ANTI-TOBACCO    SOCIETY.         .      51 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  ANTI-TOBACCO   SOCIETY. 

BY  the  noon  intermission  next  day,  our  two 
boys  had  arranged  their  plans,  drawn  up  the 
pledge,  and  Miss  More's  attention  was  pres- 
ently attracted  by  the  passing  about  of  a  sheet 
of  foolscap  among  the  pupils. 

"  What  have  you  there,  Sidney  ? "  she  in- 
quired, pleasantly,  as  she  was  disposing  the 
pens  and  copy  books  for  use  that  afternoon. 
"  Are  you  getting  up  a  petition  ?  " 

"  No,  ma'am,  a  pledge,"  answered  the  boy. 
"  "We  are  forming  a  society  —  an  anti-tobacco 
society." 

The  teacher's  countenance  must  have  ex- 
pressed the  surprise  she  felt  at  such  an  an- 
nouncement, for  he  immediately  added,  as  in 
explanation,  — 

"  There's  need  enough  of  it,  Miss  More,  if 
you  only  knew.  Almost  all  our  little  boys  are 
beginning  to  smoke  or  chew." 

"  Is  it  possible  ! "  she  exclaimed.  "  Well, 
my  boy,  go  on,  and  do  all  the  good  you  can, 
If  you  want  any  help,  come  to  me." 


52  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"  Yes'm,  I  will,  and  we  shall  want  help  by 
and  by.  Here,  Xic  —  Nicholas  Gilmore,"  he 
called  to  a  boy  just  passing  out  of  the  door, 
"  come  back  here.  I  want  you." 

"What  for?"  asked  the  boy,  hesitating. 
"  Here,  I  want  you  to  sign  this  paper ;  come 
back  and  read  it." 

The  child  addressed  was  one  of  a  class  of 
little  fellows  in  the  school  from  ten  to  twelve 
years  of  age,  as  intelligent,  bright  boys  as  a 
teacher  ever  could  desire.  The  only  excep- 
tion in  point  of  age  or  mental  activity  was  the 
Before-mentioned  James  Lawrence,  or  Lazy 
Jim,  as  he  was  often  called  by  his  mates.  He 
was  a  drone  and  a  hinderance  even  among 
boys  so  much  younger  than  himself,  and  Miss 
More  had  reason  to  fear  that  his  moral  influ- 
ence was  really  bad.  A  single  bad  boy  can 
do  untold  injury  in  a  school,  and,  though  the 
teacher  be  ever  so  vigilant,  will  sow  the  seeds 
of  wickedness  in  many  a  tender  heart. 

Nicholas  Gilmore,  whom  Sidney  called  at 
this  moment,  was  a  brother  of  Tristram,  and 
was  supposed  to  be  "  all  right,"  as  his  brother 
was,  on  the  tobacco  question.  But  the  enemy 
had  sowed  tares  among  the  wheat. 

"I  don't  want  to  read  your  papers  nor  your 


THE    ANTI-TOBACCO    SOCIETY.  53 

pledges,"  said  he,  in  a  careless  tone.  "  I  know 
all  about  it,  but  I  shan't  sign." 

"Stop  a  minute,"  said  Sidney,  advancing 
quickly  to  prevent  his  going  out ;  "  we  don't 
let  you  off  so.  You  ain't  a-going  to  let  it  be 
said  now  of  a  Gilmore,  that  he  won't  sign  a 
pledge  against  tobacco.  Now,  Nic,  you  know 
your  father  and  mother  would  want  you  to,  if 
they  knew  about  it." 

"But  I  don't  care;  I  shan't,"  replied  the 
child ;  " it's  of  no  use  asking,  for  I  won't" 

"  Jim  Lawrence  told  him  this  morning  'twas 
babyish ;  that's  the  reason  he  won't  do  it? 
said  Charlie  Moore. 

"  He  said  he  wasn't  going  to  sign  away  his 
liberty,"  added  Willie  Osborne. 

"  I  don't  see  what  you  want  to  sign  that 
for,"  says  John  Marshal.  "  If  a  chap  wants  to 
leave  off  smoking,  why,  let  him  do  it ;  that's 
all." 

"That's  just  what  ./"think,"  rejoined  Nicho- 
las ;  "  and  when  a  fellow  don't  smoke  at  all, 
why,  then,  what's  the  use?" 

By  this  time  quite  a  bevy  of  boys  were  col- 
lected around  Sidney  in  the  entry.  There  he 
stood,  unabashed  by  objections  or  ridicule, 
with  his  paper  in  one  hand,  and  waving  tho 
other  for  silence  among  his  young  auditors. 


54  THE    WINTEE    SCHOOL. 

"  Stop  a  minute,  boys ;  just  hush  your  noise, 
and  listen  to  me.  Don't  you  know,"  said  he, 
in  a  clear,  firm  tone,  "that  tobacco  is  apoison-9 
and  if  you  use  it  you  will  certainly  make 
yourselves  sick,  and  perhaps  die?  Besides, 
it's  terrible  nasty,  every  body  knows,  to  be 
chewing  and  spitting  around  every  where, 
and  puffing  smoke  in  decent  people's  faces. 
Who  wants  to  be  so  filthy?  Now,  boys,  you'll 
be  better  off  without  tobacco,  you'd  better 
believe ;  and  as  to  signing  this  paper,  it's  only 
to  promise  each  other  that  you  won't  use  it  — 
-it's  only  just  to  find  out  what  company  you're 
in.  You  might  just  as  well  say  you  wouldn't 
have  your  names  down  on  Miss  More's  book 
as  her  scholars.  Now  come,  let  me  read  it ; 
you  haven't  heard  it  yet;  you  don't  know 
what  it  is." 

The  earnestness  of  his  tone  and  manner 
made  an  impression,  for  the  boys  stood  very 
still  while  he  read  :  — 

"'Whereas  we  see  with  great  sorrow  the 
increased  use  of  tobacco  in  this  school,  and 
believe  it  to  be  injurious  and  wicked,  we 
pledge  ourselves,  in  this  way,  never  to  smoke, 
chew,  or  take  snuff,  or  encourage  these  filthy 
habits  in  any  of  our  companions,  while  we  be- 
long to  this  school,  or  as  long  as  we  live.' 


THE    ANTI-TOBACCO    SOCIETY.  55 

"  Now,  boys,"  lie  continued,  "  what  is  there 
in  that  to  be  afraid  of?  Those  of  you  who 
think  it's  babyish  to  sign  that,  think  it's  man- 
ly to  smoke,  I  suppose ;  but  I  tell  you,  it's  a 
mistake  both  ways." 

"  So  much  for  your  opinion,  Sidney  Barnes," 
said  a  surly  voice  in  the  crowd.  "  Other  folks 
have  a  right  to  their  opinions  too.  Who  are 
you,  to  set  up  for  so  much  ? "  It  was  Jim 
Lawrence  who  spoke. 

"  I'll  back  you,  Jim,"  cried  Bill  Gooch,  com- 
ing in  that  moment.  "  Nothing  like  a  good 
cigar,  Sid.  Didn't  you  ever  try  it,  boy  ?  " 

"His  ma'am  wouldn't  let  him,"  said  another 
great  burly  fellow,  hanging  up  his  cap.  "  His 
little  mother  is  too  nice,  and  pretty,  and  good 
for  that,"  he  added  in  a  mocking  tone. 

"  You  needn't  go  to  saying  any  thing  against 
my  mother,  Sam  Perkins,  because  I  shan't 
stand  it.  I  am  glad  she  won't  let  me  smoke. 
It's  a  nasty  thing,  and  bad  every  way,"  re- 
joined Sidney  with  warmth.  "Now,*  you  big 
boys  can  go  along,  and  if  you  choose  to 
smoke,  why,  smoke.  But  it's  a  shame  for  you 
to  try  to  make  these  little  fellows  as  b.a,d  as 
you  are.  Let  them  alone  to  do  as  they  wish." 

"  And  as  their  mothers  tell  them  to,"  addecl 
Perkins,  in  his  sneering  way.' 


56  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"  "Well,  good  boys  always  do  that,"  said  little 
Marcus  Clark.  "  It's  only  bad  boys  that  don't, 
and  they  always  come  to  some  bad  end,  my 
teacher  says." 

"  Marcus  was  a  smart  boy,  and  learned  his 
lesson  well,  didn't  he  ?  "  replied  his  big  school- 
mate, taking  him  up  by  his  ears ;  "  and  now, 
for  a  reward,  I'll  show  him  where  the  Dutch- 
man put  his  money." 

"  Let  my  brother  alone,  or  there'll  be  trou- 
ble, Sam  Perkins,"  said  Benajah.  "I'll  see  to 
him.  We're  all  going  to  sign  that  pledge, 
Sidney,  and  we'll  keep  it  too.  No  tobacco 
for  us."  Benajah  Clark  was  as  grave  and 
steady  as  a  man. 

"I'll  sign  too,"  said  another  voice.  "And 
I,"  "  And  I,"  shouted  others. 

And  while  these  were  writing  their  names, 
the  opposing  party  retired  to  laugh  and  scoff 
as  they  pleased.  But  gibes  and  jeers  never 
harm  any  but  those  who  use  them,  and  our 
little  band  of  reformers  were  strong  and  cour- 
ageous as  before.  Perh  aps  more  so  ;  for  the 
opposition  which  intimidates  the  weak  always 
makes  the  brave  and  good  more  determined 
and  energetic. 

"You'll  sign  —  shan't  you,  Willie  ?"  cried 
{Sidney,  as  with  amazement  he  saw  the  son  of 


THE    ANTI-TOBACCO    SOCIETY.  57 

his  pastor  pushing  his  way  into  the  school 
room  with  these  unprincipled  boys.  "Don't 
go  with  that  set,  Willie ;  now  don't,"  said  he 
in  a  persuasive  tone ;  "  come,  give  us  your 
name." 

"  No,  I  shan't,  Sidney.  I  don't  want  to.  I 
can't  to-day  any  way.  By  and  by,  perhaps  I 
will;"  and  he  hurried  away  with  a  flushed 
face  and  agitated  manner,  which  seemed  to 
say  very  plainly  that  he  was  not  doing  right. 
No  wonder  the  boys  were  surprised  that  he, 
of  all  others,  should  be  reluctant  to  participate 
in  the  enterprise. 

"  What's  got  into  Willie  ?  "  exclaimed  Be- 
najah.  "  I'm  sure  he  don't  act  like  himself." 


58  THE   WINTER    SCHOOL. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

EEV.  MR.  OSBORXE'S  TEA  TABLE. 

WILLIE  was  himself  conscious  that  he  was 
taking  a  wrong  step  —  doing  something  that 
would  not  bear  investigation.  That  was  the 
reason  he  ran  into  school  so  fast.  His  refusal 
to  sign  the  offered  pledge  was  not  that  he  did 
not  comprehend  it.  Ko,  indeed ;  though  he 
was  scarcely  ten  years  old,  there  was  nothing 
that  interested  his  schoolmates  that  he  could 
not  understand  as  well  as  they.  There  was 
nothing  dull  or  stupid  about  him.  Why,  they 
say,  at  seven  years  he  had  read  all  the  books 
in  his  father's  library,  excepting  those  mon- 
strous theological  works  on  the  upper  shelf. 
And  though  a  country  clergyman's  library  is 
not  usually  veiy  large,  yet  it  was  quite  a 
remarkable  achievement  for  such  a  child. 
He  had  studied  ancient  and  modern  geog- 
raphy, and  ancient  and  modern  history,  and 
Latin,  and  Hebrew,  and  nobody  knows  what 
else.  In  fact,  he  had  done  too  much  reading, 
and  too  little  playing.  If  he  had  studied  less, 
and  skated  and  coasted  more,  I  believe  he 


EEV.  ME.  OSBOENE'S  TEA  TABLE.       59 

•would  have  been  a  better  boy.  But  this  only 
proves  that  it  was  not  stupidity  that  hindered 
his  signing  that  pledge. 

Neither  was  it  ignorance  of  his  duty.  He 
had  a  well-instructed  conscience,  and  knew 
well  enough  what  was  right  and  wrong  in 
the  matter.  He  was  an  only  child,  and  had 
the  advantage  of  all  the  efforts  that  father 
and  mother  both  could  put  forth  for  his 
moral  education ;  and  his  father  being  a  min- 
ister, it  is  to  be  supposed  he  was  as  instant  in 
season  and  out  of  season  in  his  teachings  to 
his  son  as  to  his  flock  generally. 

What,  then,  could  have  induced  the  child 
to  hear  that  pledge  read  by  the  zealous  Sid- 
ney, and  to  ^ass  on  without  subscribing  to  it  ? 
Can't  you  guess?  Why,  the  child  hadn't 
moral  courage  enough  to  write  his  name  on 
that  paper.  He  knew  it  was  right ;  but  Jim 
Lawrence  had  made  fun  of  the  "old  granny 
society,"  as  he  called  it,  and  would  laugh  at 
any  boy  that  joined  it.  The  other  big  boys 
would  laugh  at  him,  too,  and  Willie  couldn't 
bear  to  be  laughed  at.  Silly  fellow !  Didn't 
he  know,  with  all  his  shrewdness,  that  those 
who  laughed  hurt  themselves  more  than  any 
one  else?  It  never  hurts  any  one  to  be 
laughed  at.  Why,  you  can  always  smile 


60  THE    WINTER   SCHOOL. 

pleasantly  back  again,  when  any  body  makes 
sport  of  you,  particularly  when  he  makes  fun 
of  your  doing  right,  and  say,  "Oh,  I  don't 
care  if  you  do  laugh ;  it  doesn't  hurt  me  one 
bit."  Be  courageous,  and  your  courage  will 
be  to  you  like  a  coat  of  mail,  which  will  pre- 
vent the  shafts  of  scorn  and  ridicule  from 
piercing  you ;  and  like  a  shield,  too,  from 
which  such  shafts  will  rebound  into  the  very 
heart  of  the  enemy. 

It  is  my  private  opinion  that  there  was 
another  reason  for  Willie's  conduct,  especially 
as  he  was  heard  to  say  to  one  of  the  boys, 
that  "  signing  the  pledge  was  as  much  as  to 
say  you  used  tobacco,  and  were  going  to 
reform." 

"  Well,  Willie,  my  son,"  said  Mr.  Osborae, 
at  the  tea  table  that  evening,  "what  have  you 
been  doing  at  school  to-day?"  It  was  a 
question  often  asked,  for  Willie's  father  was 
always  solicitous  about  the  progress  of  his 
promising  child  in  his  studies. 

But  Willie,  a  little  uneasy  in  his  conscience 
at  what  had  occurred  that  afternoon,  forget- 
ting all  about  his  lessons,  rather  doggedly 
replied,  "They  have  been  making  an  anti- 
tobacco  society,  I  believe." 


BEV.  ME.  O^BOKNE'S  TEA  TABLE.       61 

"A  what?"  exclaimed  his  mother,  in  aston- 
ishment. 

"Willie  repeated  what  he  had  said. 

"  What  is  that  for,  my  son  ?  "  inquired  his 
father,  with  no  less  surprise.  "It  seems  to 
me  that's  strange  work  —  foreign  to  intel- 
lectual pursuits.  "Whose  proposition  was  it?" 

"  I  don't  know,  sir,  any  thing  about  it,  only 
Tristram  Gilmore  and  Sidney  Barnes  start- 
ed it." 

"  Good  boys,  good  boys  they  are,"  said  Mr.  - 
Osborne,  partly  talking  to  himself.  "  We  can't 
suspect  mischief  where  they  take  the  lead. 
Does  Miss  More  approve  the  movement?" 
he  asked,  turning  to  Willie.  "  I  should  be 
sorry  to  have  any  thing  occur  to  divert  the 
attention  of  the  scholars  from  their  lessons." 

"  I  didn't  hear  her  say  any  thing  about  it," 
said  the  boy. 

"Did  you  join,  dear?"  asked  aunt  Nancy, 
looking  across  the  table  at  Willie  pretty 
sharply.  "  I  hope  you  did." 

"Why,  of  course,  aunt  Nancy,"  said  Mrs. 
Osborne,  in  her  haste  preventing  a  reply  from 
the  child.  "Willie,  of  course,  would  join  — 
that  is,  if  it  is  all  right.  He'll  never  wish  to 
use  tobacco." 

Aunt  Nancy  looked  at  Mrs.  Osborne,  and 


62  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

smiled  significantly,  and  then  at  "Willie,  whose 
cheeks  had  begun  to  grow  a  little  red. 

"  Did  you,  dear  ?  "  she  persisted. 

"I  should  hope  my  son  would  always  be 
found  on  the  side  of  right,"  remarked  Mr. 
Osborne,  again  intercepting  the  boy's  answer. 
"I  don't  know  about  this  thing,  but  I  pre- 
sume it  must  be  all  right,  for  I  know  those 
two  boys  too  well  to  suppose  they  would  do 
any  thing  disorderly  in  school.  A  special 
need  has  suggested  so  extraordinary  an  un- 
dertaking, without  doubt.  Willie,  to-morrow 
ascertain  if  Miss  More  approves  it,  and  find 
out  from  the  boys  what  led  them  to  think  of 
forming  such  a  society.  Do  you  hear,  my 
son  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

But  aunt  Xancy  wasn't  satisfied,  nor  was 
she  to  be  put  off.  Looking  over  her  specta- 
cles again  across  the  table  at  Willie,  she  re- 
peated distinctly  her  question,  — 

"Willie,  dear,  did  you  join  ?  " 

There  was  no  getting  off  this  time.  The 
child  had  very  willingly  shielded  himself  be- 
hind his  mother's  and  father's  remarks,  and 
flattered  himself  he  should  get  rid  of  the 
question.  But  no ;  aunt  Nancy  had  her  rea- 


EEV.  ME.  OSBOENE'S  TEA  TABLE.       63 

sons  for  wanting  a  direct  answer,  and  W  iilie, 
however  unwillingly,  had  to  say,  — 

"  No,  ma'am." 

His  parents  both  looked  at  him  in  surprise. 

"  Why  not  ?  "  asked  both. 

"  Oh,  I  didn't  see  the  use  of  it,"  said  the 
boy,  without  looking  up  from  his  plate.  He 
was  very  intent  on  his  biscuit  and  butter. 

"Were  you  fearful  it  was  not  in  order?" 
asked  the  methodical  father.  "  I  don't  know, 
but  I  think  there  can  be  nothing  wrong  about 
it,  and  unless  there  is  such  a  reason,  I  would 
have  you  join  at  once.  You  know,  my  son,  I 
consider  the  use  of  tobacco  pernicious  to  body 
and  mind,  and,  for  religious  considerations, 
we  should  never  use  it." 

"  Why,  it  isn't  wicked,  father,  to  use  it  — 
is  it?" 

"  I  deem  it  so." 

"Well,  'most  all  your  church  members  are 
wicked,  then.  Why  don't  you  preach  about 
it?" 

This  was  a  poser.  Mr.  Osborne  never  used 
tobacco  himself,  because,  as  he  said,  he  con- 
sidered his  body  as  "  the  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  he  could  not  defile  or  injure  it 
without  sinning  against  God."  But  he  had 
never  publicly  expressed  his  sentiments  on 


64  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

the  subject,  nor  preached  against  a  practice 
so  prevalent  and  so  destructive  among  his 
own  people  and  throughout  the  civilized  com- 
munity. His  sense  of  refinement,  and  his 
estimate  of  clerical  dignity,  forbade  his  intro- 
ducing such  a  subject  into  the  pulpit.  He 
hardly  knew  what  to  say  to  this  potent  an- 
nouncement from  his  little  boy.  He  succeed- 
ed, however,  in  remarking,  that  "his  church 
fell  far  below  the  right  standard  of  living,  to 
his  great  sorrow,  but  that  the  short-comings 
of  others  furnished  no  suitable  reason  for  our 
wrong-doing." 

"Why,  Willie,"  said  his  mother,  uninten- 
tionally, yet  opportunely,  coming  to  her  hus- 
band's help,  "I  should  have  thought  you 
would  have  been  the  first  one  to  join,  to- 
day. You  are  the  minister's  son,  and  his 
representative,  as  it  were,  Willie,  and  you 
should  honor  your  father,  and  his  teachings, 
by  being  prompt  and  decided  in  favor  of  what 
is  right." 

Willie  didn't  look  straight  up  in  his  moth- 
er's face,  as  an  honest  boy  would  have  done, 
as  he  received  this  advice,  but  turned  his 
head  away,  moving  restlessly  on  his  chair; 
and  the  moment  she  had  finished,  he  jumped 


REV.  ME.  OSBOENE'S  TEA  TABLE.       65 

up   and  ran   away.     He  didn't  notice   how 
closely  aunt  Nancy  was  observing  him. 

As  the  door  closed  after  him,  she  turned  to 
Mrs.  Osborne,  and  in  a  low  voice  said,  — 

"  Sarah,  there's  some  good  reason  why  Wil- 
lie didn't  join,  dear.  He  uses  tobacco  himself. 
He  chews,  dear." 

"  Why,  aunt  Nancy ! "  exclaimed  her  au- 
ditor, starting  from  her  seat.  "  What  do  you 
mean?  My  Willie?  Never!" 

"I  think  so,  dear.  Now  you  watch  him, 
and  you'll  find  out.  Don't  say  any  thing  to 
him,  nor  tell  him  that  I  told  you  so,  for  you 
know  I  love  Willie,  dear.  I  wouldn't  hurt 
his  feelings  for  the  world,  dear  —  not  for  the 
world.  But  I've  had  suspicions  lately,  dear ;" 
and  the  affectionate  old  lady  shook  her  head 
gravely. 

Mrs.  Osborne  was  astonished  and  grieved 
beyond  measure,  but  determined  to  be  on  the 
alert  to  ascertain  the  truth,  and  in  time  to 
prevent  a  great  evil. 

5 


66  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER  X. 

FARMER  CLARK'S  KITCHEN. 

THE  Clark  boys  went  home  brimful  of  the 
new  society.  They  entered  heart  and  soul  into 
the  enterprise,  and  were  bold  and  straightfor- 
ward in  their  appeals  to  their  schoolmates  to 
help  it  forward. 

The  table  was  spread  for  supper  as  they 
entered  the  large,  old-fashioned  kitchen  of 
the  substantial  farm  house.  Mrs.  Clark,  the 
kindest  and  most  motherly  of  mothers,  ex- 
erted herself  daily  to  provide  a  hearty  wel- 
come for  her  little  family  when  they  returned 
from  school.  "  To  walk  two  miles  to  school 
and  two  miles  back  this  cold  weather,  and  to 
put  up  with  a  cold  bite  at  noon,  was  enough," 
she  said,  "  and  they  must  always  have  a  good 
hot  supper  waiting  for  them  when  they  got 
back." 

This  family  did  not  properly  belong  to  the 
central  district,  and  attended  school  there 
only  by  special  permission.  Lucy  had  been  a 
member  of  Miss  More's  school  during  the 
Bummer,  and,  like  the  rest,  had  become  very 


FARMER  CLARK'S  KITCHEN.  67 

much  attached  to  her  as  a  teacher  and  a  friend. 
Good  Mrs.  Clark  had  formed  a  very  exalted 
opinion  of  the  young  teacher,  and  Avhen  she 
learned  that  she  was  engaged  at  Campfield 
Corner  through  the  winter,  could  not  rest  un- 
til all  her  children  were  placed  under  her 
care.  Mr.  Clark,  a  very  worthy,  pious  man, 
who  admired  a  Christian  spirit  wherever  he 
saw  it,  was  very  well  pleased  with  this  arrange- 
ment. He  had  often  been  heard  to  say  that 
he  had  but  one  desire  for  his  children,  and 
that  was,  that  they  might  be  found  in  the 
ways  of  righteousness,  and  he  would  "joyfully 
go  in  for  any  body  or  any  thing  that  would 
help  them  along."  So  the  permission  was  ob- 
tained by  the  payment  of  tuition  for  them ; 
and  punctual  as  the  morning,  the  red  cheeks 
and  sparkling  eyes  of  the  four  young  Clarks 
helped  to  light  up  the  pleasant  school  room. 

The  hot  toast  and  rye  mush,  with  a  bonnie 
dish  of  baked  apples,  were  placed  smoking  on 
the  table,  and  as  they  satisfied  their  eager  ap- 
petites the  boys  began  as  eagerly  to  relate  the 
adventures  of  the  day. 

"  What  do  you  think,  'pa  ?  "  said  little  Mar- 
cus ;  "  we  are  going  to  have  an  anti-tobacco 
society  down  to  school.  And  we've  all  joined, 


68  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

'pa,  and  Sam  Perkins  made  fun  of  us,  and  the 
other  big  boys  did  too." 

"What  is  it  for?"  asked  the  mother,  turn- 
Ing  to  Lucy. 

"Tristram  and  Sidney  started  it,"  she  re- 
plied, "because  they  say  that  'most  all  the  lit- 
tle boys  in  school  are  getting  to  use  tobacco, 
and  they  felt  sorry  to  have  such  a  bad  habit 
spreading  so,  and  they  are  trying  to  pre- 
vent it." 

"  They  wrote  a  pledge  just  like  a  temper- 
ance pledge,"  said  Josiah,  "and  we  put  our 
names  to  it." 

"Jim  Lawrence  makes  all  manner  of  fun 
of  it,"  added  Marcus,  "  and  he's  mad  about  it 
too.  I  don't  see  why." 

"Bad  folks  always  get  angry  with  good 
people  —  don't  they,  'pa  ?  "  asked  Benajah. 
"Isn't  that  the  reason  he  feels  so?" 

"It  is  often  so,  my  son,  especially  when 
any  effort  is  made  right  against  their  bad 
practices." 

"James  Lawrence  smokes  awfully,"  con- 
tinued Benajah,  "  and  he's  never  without  a 
chunk  of  tobacco  in  his  mouth  —  never." 

"  Ah,  yes,  he  begins  to  show  its  effects  upon 
his  health,"  remarked  Mrs.  Clark.  "  He  is 
very  pale  and  miserable  looking.  I  shouldn't 


FARMER   CLARK'S   KITCHEN.  09 

think  lie  could  live  long  at  this  rate.  Oh, 
boys,  I  do  hope  you  will  be  good  boys,  and 
never  do  such  naughty  things.  How  bad  I 
should  feel  if  either  of  you  were  like  him ! " 

"  He's  got  a  horrid  temper,  any  how,"  said 
Josiah,  "  Why,  don't  you  think,  'ma,  he 
doubled  up  his  fist  right  in  our  Lucy's  face 
to-day,  just  because  she  said  she  wished  she 
could  persuade  him  to  sign  this  pledge  ;  and 
he  said  he'd  fight  any  body  that  dared  to  say 
another  word  to  him  about  that  — " 

"  You  mustn't  tell  'ma  what  he  said,  Si," 
interrupted  Marcus.  "  Isn't  it  wicked,  'ma,  for 
us  to  say  the  wicked  words  the  other  boys 
use?" 

"  Certainly,  dear.  You  oughtn't  to  repeat 
bad  words  even  in  telling  a  story.  I  am  glad 
you  are  particular  about  that." 

"But,  oh,  'ma,"  continued  Si,  "you  don't 
know,  you  can?t  think,  what  an  awful  bad  boy 
Jim  is.  Why,  he  swears  like  every  thing,  and 
he  never  does  what  a  fellow  wants  him  to. 
I  don't  see,  for  my  part,  what  he  comes  to 
school  for." 

"I  do  believe,"  said  Benajah,  "it's  just  to 
do  mischief.  He  behaves  well  enough  to  Miss 
More,  better  than  he  ever  did  before  to  a 


70  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

teacher  —  so  they  say.  But  out  of  school  he  s 
dreadful." 

"  Well,  my  son,"  said  his  father,  "try  to  do 
him  all  the  good  you  can.  Watch  and  pray 
lest  you  are  led  into  temptation  yourselves,  and 
try  as  hard  as  you  can  to  offset  and  prevent 
his  mischief  among  the  boys.  Remember  the 
Bible  way  is,  to  overcome  evil  with  good ; 
that  is,  you  must  make  your  good  influence 
•so  strong  as  to  overpower  his  evil  influence. 
What  does  Miss  More  say  to  this  society  ?  " 

"  Oh,  she  likes  it  first  rate.  She  told  Sid- 
ney to  go  on  and  get  all  the  names  he  could, 
and  then  she  promised  him  she  would  deliver 
some  lectures  for  us." 

"Yes,"  said  Lucy,  "their  plan  is  to  have 
weekly  meetings  in  school  on  Thursday  after- 
noons, and  Miss  More  is  going  to  give  us  six 
lectures  on  the  subject." 

"  That  will  keep  you  in  veiy  late  after 
school  —  won't  it?"  asked  the  mother. 

"  Xo'm  —  she  thought  of  that.  She  is  not 
going  to  keep  us  in,  for  she  said  it  would 
make  it  too  tiresome  for  the  little  ones,  and 
we  shouldn't  get  home  till  after  dark.  But 
she's  going  to  give  the  last  half  hour  to  that." 

"That's  first  rate,"  said  the  farmer.  "I 
like  her  ways  of  doing  things.  She's  always 


FARMER  CLARK'S  KITCHEN.  71 

instructing  the  scholars  in  something  good. 
I'd  like  to  go  down  and  hear  her  myself." 

"  So  should  I.  Let's  go  down,  father,  in  the 
sleigh,  some  afternoon,"  replied  the  mother, 
witli  a  beam  of  great  satisfaction  in  her  eye. 
"We  can  go  down  to  bring  the  children 
home,  and  just  happen  in,  and  hear  her." 

"Oh,  that's  nice  —  oh,  do  —  goodey,  good- 
ey!"  cried  little  Marcus  in  ecstasy,  jumping 
up  from  the  table  —  not  altogether  in  glee, 
little  reader.  He  had  finished  his  supper,  and 
had  his  pet  rabbits  to  feed  and  put  to  bed. 


72  THE    WIXTEK    SCHOOL. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

WELL  DONE. 

THUKSDAY  morning,  an  hour  before  school 
time,  found  Tristram  and  Sidney  in  consulta- 
tion together,  beside  the  glowing  stove  in  the 
school  room.  They  were  examining  their  roll 
of  names,  framing  the  constitution  and  by- 
laws of  the  society,  and  otherwise  concluding 
the  preparations  for  their  first  meeting. 

The  before-mentioned  sheet  of  foolscap 
paper  lay  before  them,  soiled  and  crumpled, 
schoolboy  fashion,  but,  withal,  presenting,  in 
their  estimation,  a  most  satisfactory  and  en- 
couraging aspect.  The  pledge,  to  which  we 
have  already  listened,  headed  the  paper,  writ- 
ten in  a  fair,  legible  hand.  The  composition, 
though  it  might  have  been  criticised  by  a 
mature,  business  mind,  was  creditable  in  the 
highest  degree  to  their  unaccustomed  brains, 
and  particularly  to  the  ardent  young  hearts 
that  prompted  it.  Twenty-two  names  out  of 
the  forty-three  members  of  the  school  were 
appended.  Some,  written  neatly  and  dis- 
tinctly, indicated  that  the  majority  of  the 


WELL   DONE.  73 

older  scholars  countenanced  the  effort.  Then 
followed  crooked  lines  and  misshapen  letters, 
and  names  that  scarcely  could  be  recognized 
by  the  owners  themselves.  Some  were  even 
in  printed  letters,  and  others  bore  evidence 
of  having  been  first  traced  in  pencil  by  an 
experienced  hand.  The  inspection,  however, 
proved  highly  gratifying  to  the  two  boys. 

"  We  have  done  well,"  said  Tristram. 

"Better  than  I  expected,  ever  so  much," 
responded  Sidney. 

"  You  see  there  are  ten  babies  in  school  that 
don't  know  their  right  hand  from  their  left  —  " 

"Of  course  they  couldn't  sign — it  wouldn't 
be  of  any  use  to  ask  them,"  interrupted  Sid- 
ney. 

"  No,  but  I  was  going  to  say,  I  think  we 
ought  to  let  them  stay  at  the  meetings,  and 
perhaps  Miss  More  will  make  them  under- 
stand about  it.  Then,  by  the  time  school  is 
over,  perhaps  they  will  know  enough  about 
it  to  take  the  pledge.  Really  now,  Sid,  ff  we 
could  get  every  name  in  the  school,  wouldn't 
it  be  fine  ?  " 

"  Of  course  we  can't  do  that ;  'tis  no  use  try- 
ing. You  couldn't  make  Bill  Gooch  and  Sam 
Perkins,  nor  Jim  Lawrence,  give  up  tobacco, 
if  you  were  to  try  for  ever.  They  wouldn't 


74  THE    TVIXTER    SCHOOL. 

give  up,  just  out  of  spite.  Oh,  they  are  so 
mad,  and  make  such  fun,  and  call  us  '  priests,' 
and  '  stick-ups,'  and  i  upper  crust,'  and  all  sorts 
of  names." 

"I'm  sure  I  don't  care  for  their  talk — do 
you  ?  "  said  Tristram.  "  We  are  on  the  right 
«;ide,  and  father  says,  that  when  we  know  we 
are  right,  we  needn't  be  afraid  if  the  whole 
world  is  against  us.  All  we've  got  to  do  is  to 
keep  straight  on,  and  we  shall  be  sure  to  come 
out  on  the  top  of  the  heap." 

"  Then  there's  foolish  Luther  —  he's  nothing 
any  way;  and  Josh  Little,  you  won't  catch 
him  to  give  up  his  chewing.  I  don't  believe 
that  boy  has  been  without  a  paper  of  '  honey- 
dew'  in  his  pocket  these  two  years." 

"  What  a  shame  it  is !  I  declare  it  makes 
me  feel  real  bad  to  see  such  a  bright,  pretty 
boy  as  he  is,  doing  such  things.  He's  a  real 
clever  fellow,  but  there's  no  religion  nor  any 
thing  to  help  him  at  home.  His  parents  don't 
seem  to  care  what  he  does." 

"  How  comes  it  that  Anna  is  pious,  Tris  ? 
I  don't  see  how  it  happened,  for  I  know  Mr. 
Little  and  his  wife  both  make  fun  of  religion." 

"Why,  don't  you  know?  She  was  con- 
verted last  summer  in  school ;  and  I  do  believe 


WELL   DONE.  td 

she's  a  real  Christian  too.  She's  a  splendid 
girl,  I  think." 

Sidney  gave  his  companion  a  comical  look, 
and  with  a  whistle  began  again  to  examine 
the  paper  before  him,  as  if  to  see  what  other 
names  were  missing. 

"There's  Willie  Osborne,"  said  he;  "I 
wonder  why  he  won't  put  his  name  down 
Don't  you  think  it's  queer  ?  " 

"Well,  I've  mistrusted  lately  that  he  has 
been  led  away  by  some  of  these  bad  boys. 
Jim  and  Josh,  I  think,  have  both  got  hold  of 
him.  You  see  he's  the  minister's  son,  and  if 
they  can  only  get  him  to  do  something  bad, 
why,  then  they  crow.  I'm  real  sorry." 

The  other  boys  and  their  various  reasons 
for  withholding  their  names  were  discussed, 
and  our  friends  finally  concluded  that  they 
would  at  least  urge  all  to  attend  Miss  More's 
lecture. 

"For  they  may  get  convinced,"  said  Sid- 
ney, "and  then  by  and  by  join." 

"I  have  more  hope  in  prevention  than  in 
cure,  after  all,"  remarked  Tristram.  "  I  have 
heard  that  it  is  very  hard  to  reform  tobacco- 
users  —  as  hard  as  it  is  to  reform  a  drunkard." 

Still  they  determined  to  do  their  utmost. 
Nor  were  they  alone.  The  young  ladies  were 


76  THE    TVIXTER    SCHOOL. 

as  interested  and  active  as  themselves.  They 
had  already  urged  the  subject  upon  each  one 
of  the  opposing  party,  and  made  especial 
endeavors  with  the  little  boys  to  persuade 
them  to  go  to  the  meetings,  if  nothing  else. 
But,  alas  for  the  stubbornness  of  the  young 
offenders !  the  wise  counsels  of  the  pretty 
Miss  Simonson,  the  persuasions  of  gentle  Lucy 
Clark,  the  sarcasms  of  Miss  Gilmore,  and  the 
up-and-down  declaration  of  Anna  Little,  that 
if  they  refused  they  would  no  longer  be  con- 
sidered gentlemen,  alike  failed  to  move  them. 
Still  there  was  hope  that  in  the  course  of 
time,  especially  if  Miss  More's  addresses  on 
the  subject  proved  popular,  they  might  be 
brought  in  and  conquered. 

The  boys  had  obtained  a  blank  book,  in 
which  was  written  their  plan  of  operations, 
which,  by  advice  from  head  quarters,  was  very 
simple.  They  were  to  have  their  meeting  at 
noon,  to  organize  themselves  into  a  society, 
choose  officers,  &c.  "We  can  easily  guess  who 
those  said  officers  will  be. 

When  the  school  convened,  a  very  neatly 
printed  programme  —  considering  it  was  exe- 
cuted with  a  pen  —  was  found  posted  in  front 
of  the  teachers  desk.  It  read  thus :  — 


WELL   DONE.  77 

Miss  A.  B.  MORE 
will   deliver   a  lecture, 

this  afternoon, 

in  this  school  room, 

at  half  past  four   o'clock. 

Subject  —  Tobacco. 

A  meeting  for  the  organization  of  the  society 
will  be  held  at  one  o'clock. 

Miss  More  smiled  as  she  came  into  school, 
and  saw  herself  so  conspicuously  placarded. 

"It's  the  first  time,"  she  remarked  laugh- 
ingly, "  that  I  have  been  advertised  as  a  lec- 
turer. A  woman  too !  Some  may  think  I 
am  stepping  out  of  my  sphere.  Dear !  how 
fluttered  I  shall  be ! " 

At  this  the  little  ones  laughed,  as  though 
any  thing  would  flutter  their  calm,  quiet 
schoolmistress ;  and  the  large  ones  smiled  at 
the  idea  that  they  were  advocating  "woman's 
rights"  in  the  new  movement.  All  seemed 
excited  and  joyful,  as  if  some  thrilling  occa- 
sion was  at  hand. 


78  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER   XII. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  A  WEED. 

XEVER  did  public  speaker  have  a  more  cor- 
dial welcome  than  did  Miss  More,  that  Thurs- 
day afternoon,  from  her  little  congregation. 
Their  demonstration  was  only  in  beaming  eyes 
and  quiet  demeanor;  but  that  was  enough. 
She  felt  that  her  effort  would  be  received  at- 
tentively, and  she  prayed  that  it  might  be 
with  lasting  good. 

"Boys  and  girls,"  she  said,  "it  gives  me 
more  than  usual  pleasure  to  speak  to  you  this 
afternoon,  for  I  am  to  address  you  on  a  sub- 
ject of  your  own  choosing.  I  am  glad  to  see 
among  you  such  an  earnest  purpose  to  do 
good,  and  that  your  attention  has  been  turned 
in  the  direction  of  this  great  evil,  which  is 
certainly  one  of  the  most  wide-spread  and 
devastating  that  we  know.  Your  endeavors, 
I  trust,  will  not  prove  a  failure. 

"  I  do  not  want  my  lecture  to  be  stiff  and 
formal,  like  a  sermon.  I  much  prefer  it  to  be 
a  pleasant,  familiar  talk.  So  that,  if,  in  the 
course  of  my  remarks,  a  question  should  occur 


THE    HISTORY    OF    A    WEED.  79 

to  you,  or  you  should  be  able  to  give  me  any 
additional  information  on  the  subject  before 
us,  I  wish  you  to  raise  the  hand,  and  I  will 
give  you  opportunity  to  speak. 

"My  subject  to-day  will  be  the  History  of 
Tobacco. 

"  It  is  a  plant,  which  grows  from  three  to 
six  feet  in  Light.  The  name  is  supposed  to 
have  been  taken  from  Tobago,  one  of  the 
West  India  islands,  where  it  grows  abundant- 
ly. Others  think  it  is  derived  from  tobaco, 
the  name  of  a  pipe  formerly  used  in  Virginia, 

"  It  is  cultivated  extensively  throughout  all 
the  countries  of  the  temperate  zones,  and  is  so. 
largely  used  as  to  have  become  a  very  impor- 
tant commodity  in  commerce. 

"  Tobacco  was  introduced  into  Spain,  from 
this  western  world,  soon  after  its  discovery  by 
Columbus,  and  from  Spain  found  its  way  into 
Portugal,  and  then  into  the  other  European 
kingdoms.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  the  earli- 
est patron  of  it,  and  its  most  extravagant  con- 
sumer in  England.  It  is  related  of  him,  that 
on  one  occasion,  he  was  enjoying  quietly  in 
his  apartment  his  favorite  pipe,  when  a  ser- 
vant, entering,  saw  his  master  surrounded  by 
volumes  of  smoke.  Ignorant  of  the  cause, 
and  alarmed  at  seeing  the  gentleman,  as  he 


80  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

supposed,  ou  fire,  lie  rushed  from  the  room 
to  procure  -water,  with  which  he  completely 
drenched  the  distinguished  lover  of  smoke. 
Whether  it  was  received  as  a  joke,  or  the  ser- 
vant was  punished  for  perpetrating  such  an 
indignity,  we  are  not  informed. 

"  On  its  first  introduction  most  astonishing 
accounts  were  given  of  its  remarkable  virtue 
as  a  medicine,  and  thus  it  obtained  general 
favor,  and  rapidly  passed  into  use  among  all 
classes  in  the  community.  There  were  per- 
sons, however,  in  the  olden  time,  as  now,  who 
denounced  it.  In  some  parts  of  Switzerland, 
the  public  authorities  at  one  time  placed  the 
prohibition  of  smoking  among  the  ten  com- 
mandments. Two  hundred  years  ago  its  use 
was  forbidden  in  Russia,  on  penalty  of  having 
the  nose  cut  off.  In  Constantinople  every 
Turk  who  was  caught  in  the  indecent  act  of 
smoking  was  conducted  in  ridicule  through 
the  streets,  seated  on  an  ass,  his  face  turned 
toward  the  animal's  tail,  and  a  pipe  thrust 
through  his  nose.  But  alas,  since  those  days 
public  opinion  has  sadly  degenerated  in  all 
these  countries ! 

"  King  James  I.  wrote  in  a  most  lively  and 
amusing  manner  against  tobacco.  'Were  I 
to  invite  the  devil  to  dinner,'  he  says,  'he 


THE    HISTOET    OF    A    WEED.  81 

should  have  three  dishes ;  first,  a  pig ;  second, 
a  poll  and  ling  of  mustard ;  and  third,  a  pipe 
of  tobacco  for  his  digesture.'  He  closes  his 
remarkable  essay  in  these  words:  'It  is  a 
custom  loathsome  to  the  eye,  hateful  to  the 
nose,  harmful  to  the  brain,  dangerous  to  the 
lungs,  and  in  the  black,  horrid  perfumes  there- 
of nearest  resembling  the  smoke  of  the  pit 
that  is  bottomless.' 

"There  is  a  striking  fact  connected  with 
the  history  of  tobacco,  which  I  must  relate  to 
you.  The  first  colony  in  Jamestown,  Vir- 
ginia, was  composed  entirely  of  men.  They 
cultivated  tobacco  extensively,  and  derived 
great  profit  from  its  exportation.  After  some 
years  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
should  be  much  happier,  more  industrious,  and 
moral,  if  they  had  female  society.  They  need- 
ed homes  and  families  before  they  could  feel 
really  settled  and  contented  in  the  new  coun- 
try. They  accordingly  sent  to  the  mother- 
land to  ask  for  a  reenforoement  to  be  sent  to 
them,  to  consist  of  young  women.  A  compa- 
ny of  ninety,  of  respectable  character,  though 
of  humble  circumstances,  was  at  once  sent  to 
them,  and  each  planter  who  wanted  a  wife 
made  his  choice,  and  paid  for  her  with  one 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds  of  tobacco.  Just 
6 


82  THE    WIXTER    SCHOOL. 

think  ot  it !  The  first  human  beings  sold  in 
Virginia  were  wives  for  the  planters,  and  paid 
for  in  tobacco  !  The  next  year  sixty  or  sev- 
enty more  were  sent  out,  but  the  price  was 
advanced  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 
The  tobacco  was  sold  in  England  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  their  outfit  and  voyage.  This 
is  the  history  of  the  first  women  in  Virginia, 
from  whom  have  descended  some  of  our  most 
distinguished  scholars  and  statesmen. 

"  Tobacco  is  a  terrible  poison,  one  of  the 
most  deadly  in  the  vegetable  kingdom." 

Here  a  hand  was  raised. 

"  Miss  More,"  asked  Josiah  Clark,  "  what  do 
you  suppose  God  made  it  for  ?  " 

"  We  are  taught,"  was  the  reply,  "  that  ev- 
ery thing  has  been  made  with  benevolent  de- 
sign on  the  part  of  the  Creator,  and  we  have 
no  reason  to  doubt  it.  The  tobacco  plant 
must,  therefore,  be  good  in  its  place  among 
the  herbs  of  the  field.  Poisonous  plants  are 
medicinal.  This  one  is  highly  so,  and  is  there- 
fore needed  by  man.  But  it  should  not, 
therefore,  be  inferred  that  it  was  designed  foi 
daily  use,  any  more  than  hemlock,  prussic  acid, 
thorn-apple,  or  any  other  virulent  poison.  Its 
effect  is  to  stupefy,  to  lull  pain,  to  quiet  the 
nerves ;  and  people  have  used  it  in  this  way 


THE    HISTORY    OF    A   WEED.  83 

until  they  have  become  so  accustomed  to  it, 
that  they  love  and  crave  it,  and  have  not  res- 
olution to  do  without  it. 

"  My  next  lecture  will  be  on  the  different 
methods  of  preparing  and  consuming  this 
dreadful  poison,  most  generally  styled  by  its 
opposers  '  the  filthy  weed.'  " 


84  THE    WLNTEB    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  TIMELY  SCRUBBING. 

SIXCE  aunt  Xancy  had  intimated  to  Mrs. 
Osborne  the  possibility  that  Willie  had  be- 
come infected  with  the  bad  habits  of  the 
schoolboys,  the  devoted  mother  had  been  on 
the  alert  to  ascertain  the  truth.  Discretion 
suggested  that  she  should  not  put  the  ques- 
tion direct,  lest  the  child  in  his  weakness  be 
tempted  to  tell  a  lie.  She  therefore  resolved 
to  watch  closely;  and  what  child  can  elude, 
for  any  length  of  time,  the  scrutinizing  obser- 
vation of  an  anxious  mother? 

Her  first  inquiry  was,  if  he  had  remained  to 
hear  Miss  More's  address.  He  had  not.  Still 
his  mother  did  not  reprove  or  remonstrate 
with  him.  She  expressed  no  surprise  and 
no  wish  on  the  subject.  She  waited  until  a 
fitting  opportunity  should  offer  to  talk  with 
him  seriously  and  authoritatively;  and  she 
had  not  to  wait  many  days. 

Saturday,  the  grand  play-day  of  the  chil- 
dren, had  come,  and  Willie  obtained  permission 
to  go  coasting  with  the  boys.  The  coasting 


A    TIMELY    SCEUBBIjSTG.  85 

ground  was  about  a  mile  from  the  house,  on 
the  declivity  of  what  was  familiarly  styled 
"  the  hill,"  that  designation  being  sufficient  to 
indicate  the  only  rising  ground  within  a  cir- 
cuit of  many  miles.  This  was  the  favorite 
rendezvous  for  the  boys  of  Campfield  Corner 
on  the  winter  holidays.  No  matter  how  fast 
it  snowed,  how  swift  the  wind,  or  keen  the 
frosty  air, — these  hardy,  rustic  lads,  with  warm 
comforters  and  mittens,  and  pockets  stuffed 
with  gingerbread  and  apples,  found  rare  sport 
with  their  sleds  and  skates  on  the  hill  and 
adjacent  pond.  They  brought  the  dry  brush 
from  the  woods,  and  kindled  fires  to  keep 
their  feet  and  hands  from  being  frost-bitten ; 
and  great  was  the  fun  and  unsparing  the 
shouts  and  merriment  on  those  weekly  oc- 
casions. 

Willie  Osborne  did.  not  often  go  on  these 
excursions.  He  was  a  boy  of  rather  delicate 
organization,  and,  being  an  only  child,  was 
cared  for  with  a  more  tender  solicitude  than 
his  companions  generally.  Besides,  he  had 
not  the  taste  which  most  boys  have  for  out- 
door sports.  He  did  not  enter  into  them  with 
such  a  relish  as  his  rough  and  ready  class- 
mates, Nicholas  and  Josiah,  the  stout,  hearty 
farmer's  boys  that  they  were.  He  preferred 


SG  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

to  spend  the  time  in  bis  father's  library,  con- 
ning some  of  the  big  books,  which  the  others 
would  without  regret  have  seen  consigned  to 
the  flames.  On  his  little  low  seat,  beside  the 
old-fashioned  Franklin  stove,  he  could  sit  for 
hours,  wandering  with  some  gifted  writer  over 
the  mountains  and  vales  of  the  Holy  Land, 
deciphering  the  hieroglyphics  of  the  Egyptian 
monuments,  or  exploring  the  wastes  of  the 
vast  American  continent.  Sometimes,  how- 
ever, he  could  be  induced  to  take  his  ball,  or 
kite,  or  sled,  and  join  his  companions. 

What  the  inducement  on  this  occasion  was, 
we  can  not  say ;  but,  after  breakfast,  he  took 
down  his  sled,  and  asked  his  mother  if  he 
might  go  up  on  the  hill. 

"  Why,  yes,  Willie ;  I'm  glad  to  have  you 
go,"  she  replied ;  "  it  will  do  you  good.  It's 
a  mild,  pleasant  day,  and  you  can  stay  till 
dinner  time,  if  you  like ;"  and  filling  the 
pockets  of  his  stout  overcoat  with  substantial 
goodies,  the  kind  mother  bade  him  depart  in 
peace. 

It  was  near  dinner  time  when  Willie's  step 
was  heard  at  the  outer  door;  and  the  shambling 
noise  of  the  sled,  as  he  dragged  it  to  its  ac- 
customed place  in  the  shed,  told  that  his  play 


A    TIMELY    SCEUBBIISTG.  87 

was  ended.  Pretty  soon  he  put  his  head  in- 
side the  sitting  room. 

"Is  father  in?"  he  asked. 

"  In  his  study,  dear,"  answered  aunt  Nancy 
from  her  chimney  corner. 

"  Is  dinner  ready  ?  " 

"  Not  quite,"  replied  his  mother,  who  was 
sitting  by  the  window  at  work ;  "  but  come  in, 
Willie,  come  in ;  I  want  to  see  you." 

Willie  came  in  and  stood  by  the  fire. 

"  What's  the  matter,  child  ?  " 

"  Nothing." 

"Haven't  you  enjoyed  yourself?" 

"  Yes  'm." 

"  What  do  you  want  to  do?  —  any  thing  in 
particular  ?  " 

"Nothing — much,"  said  Willie,  in  that  am- 
biguous, boyish  style  which  always  seems  to 
mean,  I  do  want  to  do  something  in  particular, 
but  I  don't  choose  to  tell  what  it  is. 

"Well,  come  here,  Willie,"  continued  his 
mother.  "  It  seems  to  me  you  don't  act  just 
right.  You  don't  like  to  stay  where  mother  is 
so  well  as  you  used  to.  What's  got  into  you, 
child?  You  used  to  come  and  tell  me  all 
about  your  plays,  where  you  had  been,  and 
what  happened  to  you ;  but  now,  lately,  you 
haven't  done  so  at  all.  I  don't  like  to  have 


60  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

my  little  boy  grow  away  from  his  mother. 
What's  the  matter,  Willie?  You  are  not 
afraid  of  mother  —  are  you?" 

"No,"  he  answered,  still  standing  with  a 
sort  of  indifferent  manner,  with  his  back  to  the 
fire,  and  his  hands  behind  him.  His  mother 
observed  that  he  had  something  in  his  mouth, 
which  he  cautiously  rolled  about,  and  evi- 
dently wanted  to  get  rid  of.  Then  he  turned 
round  and  spit. 

"What  are  you  chewing,  Willie?  You 
know  I  don't  like  to  have  you  chew  gum  and 
such  things,  like  the  other  boys.  Yv^hat  have 
you  got?" 

"  Nothing  —  much,"  was  the  reply ;  and 
Willie  made  a  desperate  effort,  and  ejected  the 
quid  from  his  mouth  upon  the  glowing  embers. 
Aunt  Xancy  followed  the  movement  with  her 
eyes,  and  drew  her  own  conclusions. 

"  Come  here,  my  son.  I  want  to  see  you. 
Come  right  here  by  my  side." 

The  boy  advanced,  and  his  mother  put  out 
her  arm  and  drew  him  close  to  her. 

"  Yow  tell  me,  dear,"  said  she,  "  have  you 
had  a  good  time  to-day  ?  Who  was  up  on  the 
hill  with  you  ?  Was  the  coasting  good  ?  Tell 
me  all  about  it." 

"'Most  all  the   boys  were  there,"  he  an- 


A   TIMELY    SCRUBBING.  89 

swerecl.  "Yes,  we  had  a  good  time  enough  — 
'twan't  very  cold." 

"  What's  the  matter  with  you?  "  exclaimed 
the  mother,  who,  while  the  boy  was  giving 
his  answer,  directed  her  gaze  to  his  lips. 
"What  can  ail  you? "she  cried.  Springing 
from  her  seat,  and  suddenly  drawing  his  head 
under  her  arm,  she  turned  toward  the  light, 
and,  opening  his  jaws,  looked  full  into  his 
mouth.  The  movement  was  so  sudden,  and 
her  hold  so  firm,  that  the  boy  could  make 
no  resistance. 

"  Why,  Willie,"  she  fairly  screamed,  "  what 
have  you  been  eating?  Your  lips  are  all 
covered,  and  your  teeth  and  tongue,  with 
some  nasty-looking  brown  juice.  Your  teeth 
are  fairly  black.  Tell  me,  child,  right  off; 
tell  me." 

But  the  poor  fellow  happened  to  be  in  such 
position  that  he  couldn't  very  well  speak  ; 
nor  did  he  need  to,  for,  at  that  instant  catch- 
ing the  fumes  of  his  breath,  she  -exclaimed, 
"Tobacco!  tobacco!  the  child's  been  chewing 
tobacco,  as  true  as  I  live  —  the  nasty  stuff ! 
Aunt  Nancy,  Abigail,  here,  quick,  help  me, 
quick!  I  must  scour  him  out  —  his  filthy 
mouth!"  and,  suiting  the  action  to  the  word, 


1)0  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

she  dragged  the  helpless  boy,  with  jaws  still 
extended,  to  the  sink  in  the  kitchen. 

Aunt  Nancy  followed  with  her  knitting 
dangling  in  her  fingers,  astounded  at  such 
vociferous  demonstrations  on  the  part  of  the 
usually  staid  and  dignified  Mrs.  Osborne,  and 
more  than  half  suspecting  it  was  a  wTell-feigned 
excitement,  intended  for  the  special  impres- 
sion and  benefit  of  the  young  victim. 

Abigail  hastened  from  the  boiling  pot, 
whence  she  was  abstracting  a  savory  chicken, 
to  attend  the  unusual  calls  of  her  mistress ; 
and  James,  the  man  of  all  work,  coming  in 
from  the  yard  very  opportunely  at  that  mo- 
ment, sprang  to  the  rescue. 

"  Abigail !  water — soap  —  towels  —  quick  ! 

—  a   brush  —  get   me  his   tooth-brush,   nail- 
brush, scrubber,  any  thing.    Hurry,  quick  — 
the  brown  soap,  any  thing !     Oh,  fill  his  mouth 

—  plaster  it  in —  the  nasty,  filthy  stuff!   Hold 
him,  James  !  hold  his  mouth  open,  head  back 

—  fast,  James!"  cried  Mrs.  Osborne,  in  a  per- 
fect tempest  of  excitement ;  and  hastily  throw- 
ing a  towel  around  the  boy,  and  rolling  up 
her  sleeves,  she  entered  upon  the  cleansing 
operation. 

"  Good  gracious  !  Miss  Osborne,  what  £.9  the 
matter  ?  You're  goin'  on  dreftul,"  said  Abi- 


A  TIMELY  SCRUBBING. 


A   TIMELY    SCRUBBING.  91 

gail,  hardly  knowing  whether  to  laugh  or  cry 
at  the  strange  catastrophe. 

"  Has  he  hurt  hisself,  Miss  Osborne  ?  "  ven- 
tured to  inquire  James,  holding  the  struggling 
boy  in  his  firm  grasp.'  "Has  he  got  the 
toothache  ?  What  ails  you,  Willie  ?  " 

"  Tobacco !  James,  tobacco ! "  eagerly  re- 
sumed Mrs.  Osborne.  "  Our  boy,  our  Willie, 
chewing  pigtail ! — had  his  mouth  full — teeth 
all  black  —  tongue  all  dirty  —  breath  —  ah  ! 
bah !  shall  I  ever  get  it  clean  ? "  And  in 
went  the  soap  and  the  dripping  brush,  until 
the  child's  mouth  looked  like  a  shaving  pot, 
and  he  was  nearly  strangled  in  his  efforts  to 
resist  the  offensive  application. 

"  Hold  still,  child,  hold  still,"  she  exclaimed; 
"  soap's  clean,  but  tobacco  isn't !  Ah,  the  dirty, 
poison  stuff!  Hold  still ;  I'll  scrub  it  off  if  I 
can.  There,  now,  rinse  your  mouth ;  rinse  it 
well ;  gargle  the  water  in  your  throat ; "  and 
the  mother,  suffering  the  flurry  to  subside, 
sank  into  a  chair.  The  three  witnesses  stood 
by  amazed. 

"  If  ever  I  seed  sich  a  time ! "  said  Miss  Abi- 
gail, as  she  returned,  laughing,  to  her  cook- 
ing stove. 

"Soap's  healthy;  they  say  it  cures  bile," 
remarked  James,  dryly,  as  he  proceeded  to  his 


9-2  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

ordinary  routine  of  business;  "but  1  declare 
'taint  so  pleasant  to  have  it  chucked  down 
your  throat  at  that  rate." 

"Rinse  it  well,  Willie,"  said  his  mother; 
"  take  plenty  of  water  —  three,  four,  a  dozen 
times." 

There  was  no  need  of  that  exhortation,  for 
more  rinsings  and  garglings  than  could  be 
counted  were  necessary  to  take  the  taste  of 
that  strong,  coarse  soap  out  of  the  poor  child's 
mouth.  At  last,  after  gaspings  and  swallow- 
ings  innumerable,  he  recovered  his  speech, 
while  tears  of  anger,  fright,  surprise,  or  shame, 
or  perhaps  all  together,  flowed  freely  down  his 
cheeks. 

"  You're  too  bad,  mother ;  you  'most  killed 
me.  Twan't  pigtail  at  all  —  'twas  honey- 
dew." 

"'Twas  tobacco,  child,  tobacco;  that's  what 
it  was,  and  that's  enough.  No  matter  what 
the  name  is ;  no  matter  how  much  they  honey 
and  sweeten  it  up ;  'twas  tobacco,  the  filthy, 
poisonous  weed,  in  my  Willie's  mouth.  What 
do  you  think  father'll  say  ?  " 

That  was  an  unanswerable  question.  Wil- 
lie didn't  like  even  to  think  about  it.  So  his 
mother,  who,  by  this  time,  had  resumed  her 
usual  tranquillity,  wiped,  the  boy's  face,  and 


A    TIMELY    SCRUBBING.  93 

leading  him  back  to  the  sitting  room,  an- 
swered it  for  him. 

"He'll  say,  Willie,  that  he  is  ashamed, 
mortified,  that  a  child  of  his  should  do  such  a 
coarse,  vulgar,  dirty  thing.  He'll  say,  that  he 
is  grieved  that  you,  knowing  what  his  opinion 
and  practice  are  about  the  use  of  tobacco, 
should  go  contrary  to  his  wishes,  and  disobey 
and  dishonor  him  by  chewing  it.  He'll  be 
surprised,  perfectly  astonished,  that,  after  what 
was  said  upon  the  subject  only  the  other 
night,  you  should  slyly  and  deceitfully  com- 
mit such  a  fault.  Willie,  he'll  understand 
now,  and  so  shall  I,  why  you  did  not  join  the 
society  in  school,  and  why  you  were  not  will- 
ing to  remain  and  hear  your  teacher's  lecture. 
O  Willie,  my  son,  my  dear  child,  I  would  not 
have  believed  it  possible  that  you  should  have 
acted  so  wickedly."  The  mother  was  silent, 
and  her  face  was  sad.  Willie  stood  looking 
earnestly  into  the  fire,  the  big  tears  rolling 
down  his  cheeks. 

"  How  long  have  you  chewed,  Willie?"  she 
asked,  after  a  pause. 

"  I  don't  know,  'ma  ;  ever  so  long." 

"  Where  do  you  get  your  tobacco  ?  " 

"  The  boys  give  it  to  me." 

"What  boys?" 


94  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"  James  Lawrence  and  Joshua  Little." 

"  Do  you  love  it,  Willie  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  at  first,  but  now  I  do  pretty  well." 

"What  made  you  chew  it  at  first?" 

"  Why,  the  boys  laughed  at  me,  and  said  I 
was  such  a  baby  I  wouldn't  dare  to  without 
asking  my  mother;  and  so  I  did  it  just  to 
show  "em  I  didn't  care ;  and  then  I  always 
did  it  when  they  gave  me  any." 

"  What  boys  laughed  at  you  ?  " 

"Why,  Josh  and  Jim." 

"  Are  they  good  boys  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,  ma'am ;  I  don't  think  they 
are,  very." 

•     "Which  ought   you  to  care  for  the  most, 
Willie,  these  naughty  boys,  or  your  mother?" 

"  I  know  I  ought  to  care  for  you  most." 

"  Do  you  think  you  ought  to  let  such  boys 
influence  you?  Now  I  wish  to  have  you 
associate  with  good  boys,  like  Benajah  Clark, 
and  Josiah  and  Nicholas  Gilmore." 

"  Nicholas  chews,  too,  and  to-day  they  made 
him  smoke  a  cigar.  It  made  him  real  sick." 

"  What  a  pity  it  is  that  you  and  Nicholas 
should  associate  with  such  naughty  boys,  and 
that  you  should  prefer  them  to  those  you 
know  to  be  good !  It  makes  me  think  of  the 
little  bird  we  saw  last  summer,  charmed  by 


A   TIMELY    SCRUBBING.  95 

the  evil  eye  of  the  cat,  until  it  fell  right  down 
into  her  jaws.  So,  if  you  listen  to  tempting, 
bad  boys,  you  will  surely  fall  into  their  snare. 
You  see  that  you  have  done  it  already.  You 
must  be  bold  and  positive,  Willie,  against 
wrong,  and  learn  to  say  no,  when  you  are 
tempted ;  and,  above  all,  never  fear  being 
laughed  at." 

A  hasty  knock  at  the  door  at  that  moment 
was  heard,  and  the  next  instant  Tristram 
Gilmore  rushed  into  the  room. 

"Mrs.  Osborne,  mother  wants  to  know  if 
you'll  come  up  to  our  house,  right  away. 
Nicholas  is  sick,  dreadful  sick ;  we  don't  know 
but  he'll  die,  and  nobody  can  tell  what's  the 
matter  with  him." 

With  true  neighborly  kindness  she  threw 
on  her  shawl  and  hood,  and  giving  aunt 
Nancy  hasty  directions  while  she  strapped  on 
her  snow  moccasins,  she  left  Abigail's  inviting 
dinner  smoking  upon  the  table,  and  hurried 
up  the  street  to  Squire  Gilmore's. 

Here  a  counterpart  to  the  scene  which  had 
just  taken  place  awaited  her. 


96  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

ANOTHER  FLURRY. 

Ox  a  couch  in  the  pleasant  sitting  room  at 
Squire  Gilmore's  lay  Nicholas.  The  bright  sun 
shone  in  at  the  low  windows,  but  he  heeded 
it  not.  The  fire  glowed  in  the  open  stove, 
but  it  brought  no  cheer  for  him.  With  eyes 
closed  and  lips  compressed,  the  child  tossed 
restlessly  from  side  to  side,  at  short  intervals 
violently  vomiting.  The  sheet  that  covered 
him  was  not  whiter  than  his  usually  ruddy 
cheeks,  nor  the  ice  that  hung  over  the  win- 
dows more  cold  than  his  hands  and  feet.  Ho 
groaned  with  pain,  started  and  twitched  con- 
vulsively, and  a  cold  sweat  stood  on  his  pale 
forehead. 

His  mother  leaned  over  him,  trembling  with 
anxiety  and  alarm ;  every  body  in  the  house 
was  astir  to  do  something,  they  scarcely  knew 
what ;  and  the  neighbors,  heaiing  of  the  boy's 
sudden  illness,  were  rapidly  gathering  with 
offers  of  assistance. 

"  Oh,  Mrs.  Osborne,  what  shall  I  do  ?  "  ex- 
claimed the  poor,  frightened  mother.  "I've 


ANOTHER   FLURRY.  97 

sent  for  Dr.  Moore,  but  he's  away  over  to  the 
pine  woods  to  see  old  Mrs.  Jones  —  she's  very 
low.  There's  no  knowing  when  he'll  be  back, 
and  I  don't  know  what  to  do  'for  Coly.  Oh, 
dear!  I  wish  I  knew  what  was  the  matter 
witli  him  —  he  acts  so  strange." 

"  He  was  just  as  well  as  could  be  this  morn- 
ing," said  Tristram.  "He  was  out  sliding 
with  the  boys." 

"  Did  you  go  up  this  morning  with  them  ?  " 
asked  Mrs.  Osborne,  addressing  Tristram. 

"  No,  ma'am ;  I  had  something  to  do  for 
father,  and  I  couldn't  get  off.  But  lots  of 
boys  went." 

"  Did  Sidney  Barnes  go  —  do  you  know  ?  " 

"  No  'in ;  he  waited  to  go  with  me  this  after- 
noon." 

"He  was  smart  and  chipper  as  could  be 
when  he  went  off  this  morning,"  remarked 
Dolly,  the  "  help,"  as  she  came  in  with  warm 
water  for  his  feet.  "  Whatever's  happened, 
mercy  knows,  that  he  should  be  strick  down 
so  sudden." 

Mrs.  Osborne  had  a  key  which  she  fancied 
would  unlock  the  mystery  at  once.  Willie's 
remark  had  enlightened  her.  But  not  wish- 
ing to  forestall  the  opinions  of  the  doctor,  or 
the  confessions  of  the  child,  and  believing 
7 


98  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

that  he  was  not  in  a  dangerous  condition,  she 
remained  silent,  and  busied  herself  in  doing 
what  she  could  in  the  emergency.  In  the 
mean  time  the  child's  sickness  increased,  and 
after  every  exertion  he  would  sink  back  in 
deathly  faintness  upon  his  pillow. 

"I  never  saw  a  child  so  faint,"  said  his 
mother.  "  'Tis  this  that  frightens  me." 

All  that  household  pharmacy  and  neigh- 
borly kindness  could  prompt  was  brought  for 
his  relief,  but  without  avail.  It  was  with  the 
greatest  joy  that  the  sleigh  bells  of  the  doc- 
tor were  heard  at  the  gate,  and  the  squire, 
who  had  been  absent  from  home  on  business, 
came  in  at  the  same  moment. 

The  doctor,  with  the  coolness  characteristic 
of  his  profession,  marched  up  to  the  stove, 
took  off  his  gloves,  unbuttoned  his  coat,  and 
sat  down  to  warm  his  feet,  at  the  same  time 
with  apparent  carelessness  surveying  the  scene. 
Life  or  death  didn't  seem  to  trouble  him 
much. 

The  father,  alarmed  at  the  change  in  his 
cheerful  home  during  his  brief  absence,  and 
not  knowing  how  to  interpret  the  pale,  dis- 
tressed looks  of  his  wife,  hastened  to  the 
couch,  and  commenced  an  examination  for 
himself. 


ANOTHER   FLUNKY.  99 

"  Coly,  my  son,  what's  the  matter  with 
you?  What's  made  you  sick?"  he  asked, 
leaning  over  the  couch. 

There  was  no  response.  The  child  only 
turned  away  his  face  from  his  father,  and 
passed  his  hands  restlessly  over  his  head. 

"He  hasn't  spoken  since  he  came  home," 
said  the  mother.  "He  just  threw  himself 
down  on  the  floor,  and  cried,  '  Oh,  clear !  I 
feel  so  bad ! '  and  that  is  every  word  he  has 
said." 

"  Can  it  be  scarlet  fever,  doctor  ? "  asked 
the  anxious  father.  "  My  brother's  little  boy 
was  taken  just  so  last  week." 

"  May  be.  What  had  he  for  breakfast  this 
morning,  Mrs.  Osborne  ?  " 

"  He  ate  a  simple  breakfast,  as  usual,  doctor, 
and  not  much  of  a  meal  either,  he  was  in 
such  a  hurry  to  get  away." 

"  Where  has  he  been  ?  " 

"Up  on  the  hill,  sliding." 

«  With  whom  ?  " 

"  All  the  boys." 

"  Some  mischief  going  on,  perhaps,"  sug- 
gested the  doctor.  "There's  some  roguish 
little  scamps  among  the  boys  here."  Hap- 
pening at  that  moment  to  look  up,  he  encoun- 
tered the  speaking  eyes  of  Mrs.  Osborne, 


100  THE    WIXTEIl    SCHOOL. 

which,  seemed  to  say  that  he  had  struck  the 
right  lead.  So  he  went  on. 

"Nic,"  he  asked,  in  his  blunt,  rough  way, 
"  what  did  you  do  up  there  ?  Tell  me  all  about 
it  now :  it  won't  hurt  you  to  talk  a  bit.  Let 
on  now,  and  let's  have  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  What  did 
you  do  up  there  ?  " 

"  Nothing  —  much :  I  slid,"  said  the  child, 
hesitatingly. 

"  Of  course  —  but  between  whiles  —  what 
did  you  do  then  ?  Eat  any  thing  ?  " 

"Ate  an  apple;  that's  all." 

"  Hem  !    No  nuts  nor  raisins  ?  " 

"No." 

"What  did  you  drink?  Brandy  —  whisky 
—  gin  —  egg-nog  ?  What  did  you  have  that 
was  good  ?  " 

"  Nothing,"  answered  the  child,  tartly. 

"  What  did  you  chew  ?  Gum  —  India  rub- 
ber? Perhaps  you  have  swallowed  a  piece 
of  rubber.  Boys  do  sometimes.  A  boy  over 
to  Sampville  swallowed  a  piece  the  other  day. 
'Twasn't  a  very  big  piece  neither,  but  'twas 
the  death  of  him.  Shall  have  to  get  the 
stomach  pump  to  you.  Nothing  else  will  do 
for  that." 

"  I  haven't  done  any  such  thing,"  cried  the 


ANOTHER   FLUKEY.  101 

child,  evidently  as  terrified  as  the  doctor 
meant  he  should  be. 

"Tobacco,  then,"  persisted  the  doctor. 
"  That's  just  as  bad  —  a  rank  poison  —  makes 
you  deathly  sick.  All  fixed  up,  nowadays, 
for  boys  and  young  gentry.  Call  it  '  solace,' 
'honey-dew,'  all  the  fancy  names,  squire. 
They  sugar  it  up,  but  the  poison's  there  just 
the  same.  Come,  own  up,  my  boy.  Been 
eating  the  stuff?" 

No  answer ;  but  a  tossing  of  the  head  and 
fearful  vomiting  ensued,  and  the  child  fell 
back  on  his  pillow  exhausted  and  ghastly. 

"Answer  the  doctor,  my  child,"  said  the 
father,  after  an  interval.  "  It  is  necessary  for 
us  to  know  the  truth."  At  the  same  time,  he 
had  such  implicit  confidence  in  the  integrity 
of  his  son,  that  he  never  doubted  for  one  mo- 
ment that  his  reply  would  be  satisfactory. 

"It  makes  boys  have  convulsions  some- 
times," continued  the  doctor — "horrid  spasms 
— makes  'em  sick  as  death,  and  sets  their  flesh 
creeping  all  over  'em.  But  I  know  what  to 
give  you.  A  right  smart  dose  of  ipecac  will 
straighten  you  out." 

"  Oh,  don't,"  cried  the  child,  "  don't.  I  didn't 
chew  a  bit  to-day  —  not  a  bit." 


102  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"  Then  you  smoked,  I'll  bet  a  dollar.  Come, ' 
now,  I  know  it's  tobacco;  it  acts  just  like  it. 
Have  to  give  you  an  emetic,  any  way.  Hand 
a  cup,  Mrs.  Gilmore." 

"Why,  doctor,"  said  she,  "Coly  never 
smokes.  What,  such  a  child  as  he?  I  know 
he  hasn't  —  he  wouldn't  do  such  a  thing." 

A  ray  of  light  seemed  to  flash  upon  Tris- 
tram's mind,  who  had  been  awaiting  the  ex- 
amination with  intense  interest.  He  observed 
a  quizzical  smile  play  over  the  doctor's  fea- 
tures in  answer  to  his  mother's  assertion,  as 
though  he  would  have  said,  "Don't  be  too 
certain,  my  dear  madam.  Boys  do  very 
naughty  things  sometimes,  that  mothers  don't 
know  about."  Looking  around,  he  observed 
a  significant  expression  on  Mrs.  Osborne's 
face.  Stepping  up  to  her,  he  asked  in  a  low 
tone,  — 

"  Do  you  think  it  possible  ?  " 

"  It  may  be,"  was  the  replp;  "  go  and  talk 
to  him  yourself,  Tristram.  Ask  him  if  they 
had  cigars;  if  Willie  smoked;  if  the  others 
did." 

So,  while  the  doctor  was  preparing  the  nau- 
seous dose,  Tristram  knelt  by  the  side  of 
the  couch,  and  in  his  turn  began  to  ply  the 
little  sufferer  with  questions. 


ANOTHER   FLUKEY.  103 

"Was  Jim  Lawrence  on  the  hill  to-day, 
Coly?" 

«  Yes." 

"And  Josh?" 

"Yes." 

"  Did  they  smoke  any  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"Did  Willie  Osborne  smoke?" 

"No." 

"Why  not?" 

"  He  said  he  couldn't,  he  didn't  know  how. 
He  did  try  a  little  bit.  Oh,  don't ;  do  be  still, 
Tris,  I'm  so  sick." 

"Just  a  minute,  Coly.  I'm  sorry  you  are 
sick;  but  just  tell  me  what  made  you  do  it." 

"  I  didn't  say  I  did  —  go  along,"  answered 
the  child,  fretfully. 

"  It  seems  hard  to  trouble  you  when  you 
are  sick,"  said  the  father,  taking  up  the  mat- 
ter, and  speaking  very  seriously.  "But  if  it 
is  true  that  you  have  been  using  tobacco  in 
any  way,  I  wish  to  know  it.  It  is  a  deadly 
poison,  my  son,  and  if  you  have  taken  it,  you 
must  have  the  proper  antidote." 

"  Ipecac's  the  best  thing  in  the  world,"  said 
the  doctor.  "  The  poisoned  saliva  has  operated 
on  the  stomach,  and  the  smoke  has  penetrated 


104  THE    TVIXTEK    SCHOOL, 

his  brain.  This  at  first,  and  another  medicine 
I  will  leave,  will  cure  him." 

"•  My  son,"  resumed  his  father,  authorita- 
tively, "  answer  me  promptly,  before  we  give 
you  any  medicine,  or  do  any  thing  further  for 
you.  Have  you  smoked  a  cigar,  or  tried  to, 
to-day?" 

It  was  plain  to  see  that  a  sharp  struggle 
was  going  on  within  the  mind  of  the  tor- 
mented boy  —  tormented  not  only  with  illness, 
but  with  remorse,  shame,  and  the  mortal  fear 
which  the  doctor's  formidable  words  had  in- 
spired. He  found  a  voice  at  last,  and  ejacu- 
lating, — 

"  It  was  only  half  a  one,  father.  I  never 
did  it  before,"  he  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears. 

"That's  good,  —  first  rate,"  said  the  doctor; 
"  better  out  than  in,  my  lad.  ~Now  we  know 
what  ails  you,  we'll  go  to  work  and  cure  you. 
Dangerous  experiment  though ;  mustn't  try  it 
over  again.  Now  for  the  emetic.  Here,  Polly, 
Dolly,  somebody,  hold  his  nose  for  him  — 
here  goes  —  " 

The  pain  and  grief  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gilmore 
it  would  be  hard  to  describe.  Oh,  if  children 
only  knew  how  they  make  their  parents  suffer 
when  they  do  wrong,  we  do  believe  they 


ANOTHER   FLUKEY.  105 

would  be  more  careful  and  conscientious.  So 
thought  Mrs.  Osborne,  who  sympathized  truly 
with  her  afflicted  friends,  with  the  weight  of 
her  own  sorrow  lying  heavily  upon  her  heart. 

Tristram  stood  transfixed.  For  a  few  mo- 
ments he  was  lost  in  thought ;  then,  with  great 
vehemence,  he  exclaimed,  — 

"  Now,  father,  I'll  tell  you  what.  I  know, — 
I'm  almost  sure,  those  awful  boys  have  done 
it  on  purpose.  They've  done  it  just  to  spite 
us.  They've  got  hold  of  these  little  fellows, 
and  made  them  smoke  just  to  bother  us  and 
then  crow ; "  and  his  indignation  scarcely 
knew  bounds. 

"  I'll  find  out,  you  see  if  I  don't,"  he  con- 
tinued, speaking  more  to  himself.  "Before 
this  sun  sets,  I'll  find  out." 

"  That's  right,  my  boy ;  be  earnest,"  said 
the  doctor ;  "  ferret  it  out,  and  don't  let  'em 
come  it  over  you.  You  Corner  boys  are  doing 
a  noble  thing  down  there  to  school.  I've 
heard  about  it.  Go  ahead,  Tris,  and  you'll 
never  be  sorry." 

And  he  did  succeed  in  finding  out  what  the 
boys  in  question  took  no  pains  to  conceal,  but 
rather  boasted  over. 

"We've  made  Me  Gilmore   smoke,"  they 


106  TILE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

said,   "and  we'll   make  every  boy  in   school 
smoke  or  chew  before  we  wind  up." 

Oh,  no,  you  won't,  wicked  ones,  not  by  a  good 
many.  Right  is  stronger  than  wrong,  and 
must  prevail.  Some  of  you,  we  rather  hope, 
will  be  converted  from  your  bad  habits,  —  yea, 
all  of  you, — and  for  ever  shun  a  poison  which 
is  fast  destroying  soul  and  body. 


A    THREEFOLD    EVIL.  107 


CHAPTER  XV. 

A  THREEFOLD  EVIL. 

OF  course,  in  these  two  well-regulated  fam- 
ilies an  offense  of  so  serious  a  nature  was  not 
carelessly  passed  over.  Very  grave  were ,  the 
conversations  held  with  the  two  boys  by  their 
respective  parents,  and  before  the  next  Thurs- 
day the  little  culprits,  with  mortified  but  res- 
olute air,  subscribed  their  names  to  the  anti- 
tobacco  pledge,  and  were  found,  with  the 
school,  attentive  listeners  at  Miss  More's  sec- 
ond lecture. 

~NoY  were  they  the  only  addition  to  her 
audience.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clark,  according  to 
agreement  with  their  children,  were  on  hand 
at  the  appointed  hour,  and  asked  permission 
to  hear  her  remarks.  Mrs.  Osborne,  too,  de- 
siring to  give,  by  her  personal  interest  in  the 
occasion,  all  the  help  she  could  to  the  little 
penitent  Willie,  came  over  to  the  school  house, 
accompanied  by  aunt  Nancy,  and  asked  the 
same  privilege. 

Somewhat  diffident  the  young  teacher  felt  at 
the  thought  jof  speaking  before  those  so  much 


108  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

older  than  herself.  But  she  was  not  one  who 
allowed  feelings  of  reluctance  to  prevent  her 
from  doing  her  duty ;  and,  strong  in  the  con- 
scious wish  and  purpose  to  benefit  to  her 
utmost  capability  the  youth  intrusted  to  her 
care,  she  quickly  put  under  control  any  ris- 
ing of  annoyance  at  the  intrusion,  and  calmly 
proceeded  to  her  lesson. 

The  subject  this  afternoon  was,  The  various 
Methods  of  using  Tobacco.  The  timid  lec- 
turer remarked,  — 

"  The  ingenuity  of  man  has  been  taxed  to 
invent  methods  of  preparing  this  poisonous 
article,  and  we  can  not  help  thinking,  with 
King  James,  that  an  inspiration  from  the 
spirits  of  darkness  has  aided  depraved  and 
sensual  men  in  making  it  an  instrument  of 
such  prevalent  and  fruitful  evil.  The  plant  is 
dried,  cooked,  and  compounded,  ground,  rolled, 
cut,  and  mixed,  so  that  people,  by  snuffing, 
chewing,  and  smoking,  may  obtain  to  the  ut- 
most its  deleterious  qualities. 

"  Snuff-taking  is  supposed  to  have  origin- 
ated in  Paris,  with  the  famous  Catharine  de 
Medicis.  It  is  recorded  of  her,  that  she  'used 
tobacco  in  the  form  of  a  powder,'  thus  insti- 
tuting a  practice  for  which  the  French  people 
have  been  notorious  to  the  present  day.  Since 


A    THREEFOLD    EVIL.  109 

that  time  the  Germans,  English,  and  Scotch 
have  also  become  quite  addicted  to  it.  Of  all 
the  methods  of  using  tobacco  this  is  the  most 
execrable.  People  have  to  stuff,  push,  cram, 
and  sniff,  in  order  to  make  the  snuff  stay  in  the 
nose,  and  by  dint  of  their  various  contrivances 
they  do  get  a  portion  of  it  up,  while  the  rest 
is  all  spilled  upon  their  clothes  or  wiped  off 
upon  their  handkerchiefs,  presenting  a  filthy 
and  repelling  appearance  to  every  person  of 
neatness  and  delicacy.  The  particles  which 
are  retained  lodge  in  the  cavities  of  the  head, 
and  produce  the  most  disastrous  consequences. 
A  clergyman  recently  died  of  a  disease  of  the 
head,  and,  on  examination,  a  large  quantity 
of  hardened  Scotch  snuff  was  found  there. 
He  had  a  brother,  an  officer  in  the  army,  who 
was  also  an  inveterate  snuff-taker.  He  carried 
his  snuff  loose  in  his  pocket,  because  he  said 
the  opening  of  a  snuff-box  on  the  field  of  bat- 
tle, or  while  on  review,  was  inconvenient ! 

"The  only  recommendation  that  is  given 
for  snuff-taking  is,  that  the  custom  is  a  socia- 
ble one.  This  is  more  than  can  be  said  in 
favor  of  smoking.  Smokers  can  not  be  social, 
as  all  the  powers  of  speech,  as  well  as  all  the 
faculties  of  their  being,  are  brought  into  requi- 
sition in  the  engrossing  act  of  smoking.  This 


110  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

method  of  using  the  poison  produces  a  sort  of 
intoxication,  stimulating  the  brain,  and  espe- 
cially quickening  the  imagination,  so  that 
many  students  and  literary  men  consider  it 
quite  essential  to  success  in  their  studies. 
Even  ministers  of  the  gospel  sometimes  feel 
that  they  can  not  arrange  their  ideas  for  a 
sermon  without  the  aid  of  'a  good  cigar.' 

"The  custom  of  smoking  is  supposed  to 
have  been  known  to  the  Chinese  from  time 
immemorial.  In  India  and  Burmah,  in  South 
America  and  the  Sandwich  Islands,  both  sexes 
smoke  ;  and  it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  mother 
to  take  the  lighted  pipe  from  her  mouth  and 
put  it  to  the  lips  of  her  nursing  infant.  But 
these  are  barbarous  and  half-civilized  people. 
Alas,  that  in  Christian  countries  we  should 
ihid  this  wretched  custom  almost  as  prevalent ! 
The  Germans,  French,  Spaniards,  English, 
and  Americans  smoke  a  large  portion  of  their 
time.  .  Even  women  in  our  own  enlightened 
country,  where  better  employment  and  more 
refined  enjoyment  may  be  had  so  freely,  are 
beginning  to  imitate  the  habits  of  less  favored 
communities,  and  are  learning  to  smoke  a  weak 
and  delicate  article  termed  'cigarette.'  Let 
us  blush  for  them  ! 

"  The  practice  of  smoking  has  become,  from 


A    THREEFOLD    EVIL.  -Ill 

its  universality,  intolerable  to  persons  of  re- 
finement. You  can  not  go  any  where  in  any 
of  our  large  cities,  to  any  grocery  store,  res- 
taurant, hotel,  railroad  station,  steam  or  ferry 
boat,  but  you  must  inhale  the  fumes  of  tobac- 
co. So  regardless  are  those  who  are  given  to 
this  disgusting  habit  of  all  the  requirements 
of  decency,  that  it  has  become  a  public  neces- 
sity to  post  placards  in  every  place,  excepting 
the  street  and  the  church,  — '  ]STo  smoking 
allowed  here,'  —  as  though  a  sensible  and  or- 
dinarily polite  man  needed  a  public  reminder 
of  his  obligation  to  regard  the  sensibilities 
and  comfort  of  those  around.  What  right 
has  a  person  to  pollute  and  poison  the  air 
that  others  must  breathe  ?  Many  persons  suf- 
fer daily  from  the  heedlessness  of  men  in  this 
regard,  being  made  uncomfortable  and  ill  by 
such  poisoned  air;  Many  an  infant,  it  is  be- 
lieved, has  died  in  its  cradle  from  the  tobacco 
smoke  with  which  its  own  father  has  filled 
the  room;  and  sometimes  even  from  the 
strong,  fetid  breath  of  its  parent  sleeping  in 
the  same  bed. 

"  Tobacco  affords  by  distillation  an  oil,  one 
or  two  drops  of  which,  applied  to  the  tongue 
of  a  cat,  has  destroyed  life  in  a  few  minutes. 
Yet  every  smoker  is  constantly  manufacturing 


112  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

this  poisonous  oil,  and  experimenting  with  it 
on  the  most  delicate  and  vital  organs  of  his 
own  body.  The  cigar  especially  discharges 
this  poison  directly  into  the  mouth  of  the 
smoker,  and  when  he  swallows  the  saliva, 
which  he  must  needs  do  to  some  extent,  the 
whole  is  conveyed  to  the  stomach.  You  can 
judge  for  yourselves  what  must  be  the  conse- 
quence to  the  health. 

"  Chewing  involves  no  loss  of  time,  and,  for 
this  reason,  perhaps,  is  more  in  use  among  our 
hard-working  population,  who  can  only  in- 
dulge in  the  luxury  of  a  pipe  or  cigar  in  the 
intervals  of  labor.  It  is  a  very  prevalent  prac- 
tice, too,  in  schools  and  colleges.  But  if  we 
can  say  so  little  in  favor  of  snuffing  and  smok- 
ing, can  you  expect  any  thing  in  behalf  of 
this,  where  the  poison  comes  directly  in  con- 
tact with  the  organs  of  eating  and  digestion  ? 
Must  not  its  effect  on  the  health  be  in  this 
way  more  immediate,  severe,  and  fatal  ?  " 

"Why  does  it  not  kill,  then,  at  once?"  in- 
quired one  of  the  boys. 

"Probably  because  the  tobacco  manufac- 
tured for  chewing,  and  used  by  beginners,  is 
prepared  in  the  least  concentrated  and  most 
palatable  form.  The  habit  once  fixed,  and 
the  system  gradually  accustomed  to  the  poi- 


A    THREEFOLD    EVIL.  113 

son,  it  is  taken  in  larger  quantities  and  more 
crude  form.  Were  it  not  for  this,  none  would 
survive  to  become  confirmed  chewers.  I  could 
relate  to  you  many  anecdotes,  both  serious 
and  amusing,  of  the  inconvenience  and  sick- 
ness caused  by  the  first  attempts  to  learn  to 
chew  tobacco.  But  I  will  reserve  them  for 
some  other  occasion. 

"  Next  week  I  will  describe  more  in  detail 
the  eifect  produced  by  the  poison  upon  the 
health." 

8 


114  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


"  Miss  MORE  didn't  tell  us  the  whole  story 
about  snuff-taking,  yesterday,"  said  Bessie 
Simonson,  as  the  girls  and  boys  clustered 
about  the  stove  next  day  at  recess. 

"  I  thought  she  told  us  a  pretty  good  one, 
any  how,"  remarked  Tristram. 

"I  too,"  added  Benajah;  "and  father  said 
it  was  first  rate  —  really  worth  coming  three 
miles  to  hear." 

While  the  majority  of  the  school  found 
ample  diversion  out  of  doors,  when  released 
from  study,  the  little  area  around  the  fire 
was  the  favorite  rendezvous  for  the  older,  or, 
rather,  the  more  sedate  and  select  portion. 
Here  they  cracked  nuts  and  ate  apples,  while 
they  enjoyed  much  pleasant  conversation, 
discussed  popular  subjects,  held  political  cau- 
cuses and  religious  conferences  on  a  small 
scale,  and  compacted  and  cemented  friend- 
ships for  after  years. 

Being  in  the  near  vicinity  of  the  teacher's 
desk,  she  had  an  opportunity  of  hearing  much 


DIPPING.  115 

that,  was  said,  and  thus  of  ascertaining  the 
current  of  opinion  and  feeling  among  the 
young  folks  on  a  variety  of  topics.  Often,  in 
an  easy  and  familiar  way,  she  joined  in  the 
conversation,  thus  giving  the  weight  of  her 
judgment  and  experience  where  it  was  needed. 
Miss  More  liked  to  talk  with  her  scholars ;  it 
opened  a  pleasant  avenue  to  the  heart  and 
conscience.  She  felt  it  to  be  no  compromise 
of  dignity  or  authority  to  become,  for  the 
time  being,  as  one  of  them,  but  rather  a 
strengthening  of  that  power  by  which  she 
swayed  her  school.  Would  that  all  teachers 
followed  her  example,  and,  in  the  language 
.of  Scripture,  "to  the  weak  became  as  weak, 
that  they  might  gain  the  weak"  —  stooped 
to  those  younger,  more  simple  and  ignorant 
than  themselves,  that  they  might  lift  them 
up  to  a  higher  standard  and  sphere.  How 
much  precious  instruction  might  in  this  un- 
professional way  be  imparted  to  the  young; 
how  many  words  in  season  spoken,  to  be  set 
in  the  memory,  as  "  apples  of  gold  in  pictures 
of  silver;"  how  many  choice  seeds  of  truth 
dropped  into  the  open  heart,  that  should 
spring  up  and  "bear  fruit,  thirty,  sixty,  or  a 
hundred  fold  "  1 

So,  on  this  occasion,  hearing  the  remark  of 


110  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

ie,  it  did  not  surprise  the  little  group,  or 
h  them  either,  when  she  stepped  down 
from  her  desk,  and  came  in  among  them. 

"  Wherein  did  I  come  short,  Bessie  ? " 
she  asked. 

"  You  didn't  mention  dipping,  Miss  More  ; 
and  that  is  quite  a  common  practice." 

"  Well,  really,  Bessie,  you  have  the  advan- 
tage of  me.  I  have  seen  that  word  in  books, 
but  I  confess  to  utter  ignorance  of  its  mean- 
ing. Enlighten  me,  do." 

"  Do,  Bessie,  do,"  cried  several  at  once. 

"  When  I  was  at  the  Water  Cure  last  sum- 
mer, with  mother  and  aunt  Amelia,  we  be- 
came acquainted  with  a  Mrs.  Monroe,  from- 
Baltimore,  who  was  a  patient  there.  She  was 
a  very  elegant  lady,  and  had  a  family  of  beau- 
tiful children.  She  was  the  life  of  the  house. 
In  the  morning  we  saw  but  little  of  her ;  but 
when  she  was  dressed  for  tea,  and  came  out 
on  the  balcony,  she  made  such  a  splendid 
appearance  with  her  rich  dress  and  brilliant 
manners,  that  she  became  the  center  of  at- 
traction. Every  one  seemed  fascinated  by 
her.  In  dull,  rainy  weather,  and  evenings  in 
the  parlor,  she  kept  the  whole  company  in 
good  humor  with  her  plays,  songs,  dances, 
and  various  amusements.  She  got  up  tab- 


DIPPING.  117 

leaux  and  charades  magnificently.  We  never 
suspected  that  it  was  any  thing  more  than  a 
lively  disposition  and  quick  wit,  as  mother 
said,  that  made  her  so  pleasant  and  agreeable. 
But  one  day  I  went  to  her  room  on  some 
errand,  soon  after  dinner.  '  'Ma  can't  see  you,' 
said  her  little  girl;  'she  is  brushing  her  teeth.' 
Of  course  I  didn't  want  to  interrupt  her  toilet; 
so  I  went  away,  and  waited  nearly  an  hour, 
and  then  I  called  again.  "Ma  is  brushing  her 
teeth;  she  can't  see  you,'  was  the  answer 
again.  I  didn't  know  what  to  make  of  it,  and 
mother  didn't,  either.  We  thought  it  was 
strange  that  she  should  spend  so  much  time 
on  her  teeth,  at  that  hour  of  day  too,  and  we 
laughed  about  it  considerably.  Aunt  Amelia 
was  in  our  room,  and  she  didn't  speak  at 
first;  but  at  last,  as  if  she  had  been  thinking 
about  it,  she  says, — 

" '  I  wonder  if  Mrs.  Monroe  dips.  If  she 
does,  that  accounts  for  her  uncommon  bril- 
liancy in  the  parlor.' 

"'Dips?  Why,  of  course,'  said  mother, 
laughing.  'Water-cure  patients  must  needs 
dip  more  or  less.' 

"'Yes,  in  the  pure  water,'  said  my  aunt, 
quite  seriously.  '  But  I  mean  something  very 
different.  Southern  ladies  have  a  practice  of 


118  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

using  tobacco  which  they  call  dipping.  They 
dip  a  brush,  or  a  soft  stick,  prepared  at  one 
end  like  a  sort  of  tiny  broom,  into  snuff,  and 
rub  their  teeth  and  gums  until  they  are 
thoroughly  permeated  with  it.  You  would 
hardly  believe  it,  but  it  produces  great  exhila- 
ration of  spirits  —  a  species  of  intoxication ;  in 
fact,  it  makes  them  tipsy.  I  should  really 
like  to  know  if  Mrs.  Monroe  does  this.' 

"  Of  course  we  were  greatly  astonished,  for 
even  my  mother  had  never  heard  of  such  a 
thing.  My  aunt  had  spent  a  good  deal  of 
time  at  the  South  for  her  health,  and  she  had 
learned  about  it  there. 

" '  The  effect,'  said  she,  '  is  similar,  I  have 
been  told,  to  that  produced  on  opium-eaters 
by  the  use  of  their  favorite  drug.  It  renders 
them  for  a  time  oblivious  to  all  care  and 
trouble,  and  brings  them  into  a  sort  of  dreamy, 
happy  state,  in  which  they  hardly  know  what 
they  are  doing — just  like  a  man  that  has 
taken  wine  enough  to  make  him  not  exactly 
drunk,  but  — '" 

"  Half  seas  over,"  interjected  Sidney. 

"Yes,  I  suppose  that's  about  it,"  replied 
Bessie,  laughing.  "Much  obliged  for  your 
help,  Sidney." 


DIPPING.  119 

"Well,  did  you  find  out?  Was  it  really 
BO  ?  "  asked  Rebecca. 

"  Oh,  yes,  to  be  sure.  After  staying  there 
some  time,  we  became  better  acquainted  with 
her,  and  found  out  all  about  it.  She  made  no 
secret  of  it,  nor  her  children  either.  They 
thought,  I  suppose,  it  was  all  right.  Then  she 
had  her  governess  with  her  —  an  interesting 
young  widow.  This  governess  took  a  great 
fancy  to  aunt  Amelia,  and  one  day  she  came 
to  her,  and  asked  if  she  would  try  to  get  a 
new  situation  for  her,  as  she  was  going  to 
leave  Mrs.  Monroe. 

"  '  Why  do  you  leave  ? '  asked  my  aunt. 

"'I  have  tried  very  hard  to  remain  and 
get  along,'  she  replied.  *  I  love  the  children, 
and  get  a  good  salary,  but  I  can't  get  along 
at  all  with  Mrs.  Monroe.  She  has  a  practice 
of  dipping,  which  produces  a  terrible"  effect 
upon  her.  Have  you  noticed  how  very  in- 
teresting and  entertaining  she  is  in  the  even- 
ing?' 

« «  Yes.' 

" c  But  you  notice  that  she  never  comes  to 
breakfast  ? ' 

" '  Yes,  I  have  remarked  it.' 

" '  Well,  her  brilliancy  is  an  intoxication. 
Do  you  know  any  thing  of  the  custom?' 


120  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"  '  Yes,'  said  aunt  Amelia. 

" '  In  the  morning  the  effect  of  the  snuff  has 
passed  off,  and  the  reaction  is  perfectly  fright- 
ful. Her  countenance  is  haggard,  her  limbs 
are  weak  and  trembling,  and  she  is  nervous 
and  irritable  to  a  dreadful  degree.  Some- 
times she  acts  like  a  mad  creature,  and  no 
one  can  manage  her  at  all  but  her  husband ; 
and  he  has  to  be  very  stem  and  severe  with 
her.  I  have  sometimes  thought  she  would 
kill  me  for  no  offense  at  all.  I  believe  she  is 
really  insane  for  the  time,  and  there  is  no 
telling  what  she  may  do.  I  don't  want  to 
stay  with  her  any  longer]  I  am  afraid,  and 
that's  the  whole  truth.'" 

"How  dreadful  this  is!"  said  Miss  More. 
"  It  is  something  quite  new  to  me,  but  I  am 
glad  to  know  it.  You  have  given  quite  an 
appendix  to  our  yesterday's  lesson,  Bessie.  I 
hope,  my  dear  scholars,  that,  knowing  these 
things,  we  shall  all  set  our  faces  like  a  flint 
against  the  use  of  a  poison  so  terrible  in  every 
shape ;  and  that  no  inducements  of  appetite, 
fashion,  or  vanity  will  ever  lead  us  to  use  it." 

"  This  seems  the  worst  way  of  any  —  don't 
you  think  so,  Miss  More  ?  "  asked  Anna  Little. 
"  To  take  snuff  into  the  nose  is  awful,  but  to 
take  it  into  the  mouth  —  oh,  I  don't  see  how 


DIPPING.  121 

anybody  that  goes  by  the  name  of  lady  could 
do  such  a- thing." 

"  Why,  Anna,  they  learn  to  love  it,"  replied 
Bessie,  "just  as  the  drunkard  does  his  drams. 
Mrs.  Coleman  —  that's  the  name  of  Mrs.  Mon- 
roe's governess  —  told  me  of  one  lady  who 
became  so  extremely  addicted  to  this  practice, 
that  her  husband  positively  forbade  it,  and 
watched  her  closely ;  and  what  do  you  think 
she  did  ?  Why,  she  tied  the  snuff  in  a  corner 
of  her  pocket  handkerchief,  and  took  it  after 
Lor  husband  had  gone  to  sleep." 

"Horrid,  oh,  horrid !  "  they  all  exclaimed. 

"I  know  it,  but  it's  true,  nevertheless," 
said  Bessie.  "  And  now  I  have  delivered  the 
lecture  I  promised  you,  Tristram,"  she  added, 
as  the  bell  rang,  and  they  rose  to  resume 
their  desks. 

"  We  ought  to  be  thankful,  dear  young 
ladies,"  said  Miss  More,  "  that  we  have  been 
brought  up  differently,  and  have  been  taught 
to  look  at  this  subject  in  a  clearer  atmos- 
phere. That  practice  will  never  seem  so 
odious  to  the  children  of  Mrs.  Monroe  as  it 
does  to  you.  They  will,  probably,  follow  in 
the  footsteps  of  their  mother,  and  in  time  ruin 
their  own  health  and  morals  by  the  pernicious 
custom.  We  should  rejoice  that  we  are  not 


122  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

in  their  situation,  and  must  do  all  we  can  to 
enlighten  and  reform  others.  Bessie's  narra- 
tive really  makes  me  sad.  I  pity  the  poor, 
silly  votaries  of  fashion  of  our  own  sex,  who 
seek  to  patch  up  their  wasted  charms,  and  to 
purchase  enjoyment  and  admiration,  at  the 
expense  of  all  that  is  noble  and  precious  in 
their  womanhood." 

Miss  Simonson  had  not  exaggerated  this 
vile  and  wretched  practice,  to  which  women 
in  some  parts  of  our  country  are  addicted. 
We  read  in  a  note  to  Dr.  Shew's  Prize  Essay 
on  Tobacco  Diseases,  that  "  in  North  Carolina, 
Southern  Virginia,  and  perhaps  other  districts 
of  the  South,  ladies,  even  when  traveling  upon 
railroads,  are  in  the  habit  of  dipping.  The 
process  consists  in  having  a  small  piece  of 
wood,  (dog-wood  or  hickory,  or  perhaps  other 
kinds  of  wood,)  about  the  size  of  a  cigar. 
One  end  of  this  is  chewed  till  it  becomes  a 
sort  of  brush,  or  broom,  after  which  it  is 
dipped,  more  or  less  frequently,  into  a  snuff- 
box, kept  for  this  purpose.  Companies  of 
ladies,  in  these  parts,  while  sitting,  of  an  after- 
noon or  evening,  sewing,  have  their  pot  of  snuff 
on  the  table,  so  that  each  one  can  '  take  a  dip ' 
now  and  then.  It  is  likewise  a  habit  to  invite 
one  another  from  house  to  house,  to  perform 


DIPPING.  123 

in  this  social  way.  On  these  occasions  they  sit 
in  a  row,  with  apron  or  napkin  in  hand,  and 
make  dipping  the  whole  business  for  an  hour 
or  two,  just  as  men  sometimes  smoke  and 
drink  together  after  dinner.  Many  keep  it 
from  their  husbands  that  they  dip,  consider- 
ing the  practice  a  disreputable  one." 

Alas,    alas    for   woman,    that    she   should 
descend  so  low !  * 


*  As  this  chapter  has  been  discredited,  we  beg  leave  to  ap- 
pend an  extract  from  Aughey's  "  Iron  Furnace,"  in  testimony 
of  the  existence  and  prevalence  of  this  practice. 

After  speaking  of  the  well-known  habit  of  clay  or  mud  eat- 
ing among  the  "poor  whites  "  of  the  South,  the  author  says  : 
"  Akin  to  this  is  the  practice  of  snuff-dipping,  which  is  not 
confined  exclusively  to  females  of  the  poor  white  caste,  though 
scarcely  one  in  fifty  of  this  class  is  exempt  from  the  disgust- 
ing habit."  He  proceeds  to  describe  the  manner  and  un- 
healthy consequences  of  the  custom,  and  then  adds  :  "  The 
Petersburg  (Va.)  Express  estimates  the  number  of  women  in 
that  State  as  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand,  one  hun~ 
dred  thousand  of  wliom  are  snuff-dippers.  Every  five  of  these 
will  use  a  two-ounce  paper  of  snuff  per  day ;  that  is,  to  the 
hundred  thousand  dippers,  two  thousand  five  hundred  pounds 
a  day  are  necessary,  amounting,  in  one  year,  to  the  enormous 
quantity  of  nine  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  pounds.  This 
practice  prevails  generally  among  the  poor  whites,  though 
females  of  the  higher  classes  are  guilty  of  it." 


124  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 


CHAPTEH    XVII. 

A  PEEP  INTO  A  MINISTER'S  STUDY. 

WE  have  already  intimated  that  of  the  two 
boarding  places  offered  to  Miss  More,  she  had 
given  preference  to  the  family  of  Mr.  "Wade. 

Mr.  Wade  was  the  pastor  of  Cainpfield 
upper  parish  —  a  young  man,  in  his  first  set- 
tlement. "With  a  very  helpmeet  of  a  wife, 
the  exact  counterpart  of  himself  in  Christian 
amiability  of  temper  and  earnestness  of  pur- 
pose, the  household  offered  as  quiet  and  pleas- 
ant a  retreat  as  could  be  desired.  Our  young 
teacher  had  already,  during  the  summer,  made 
their  acquaintance,  and  felt  that  to  share  the 
delights  of  their  fireside  and  to  enjoy  the  daily 
sunshine  of  their  friendship  would  be  a  rare 
privilege.  Nor  was  the  pleasure  of  the  an- 
ticipation altogether  on  her  side.  Their  esti- 
mate of  her  attainments  and  worth  had 
awakened  in  them  a  cordial  affection,  and 
when  asked  by  the  committee  to  open  their 
doors  to  her  reception,  they  assented  most 
cheerfully. 

Already  had  the  trio  become  as  brother  and 


A  PEEP   INTO    A   MINISTER'S    STUDY.       125 

Bisters  in  the  family  —  coadjutors  in  every 
good  word  and  work,  and  counselors  and 
comforters  in  general  to  one  another  in  their 
differing,  yet  arduous,  cares.  Many  and  long 
to  be  remembered  were  the  hours  of  peace 
and  quiet  pleasure  enjoyed  that  winter  in  the 
sunny  little  parsonage. 

Saturday  afternoon  had  been  passed  by  our 
young  friend  in  her  own  apartment,  in  study 
and  work  preparatory  to  the  Sabbath  and  the 
ensuing  week.  As  the  sun  declined,  she  turned 
toward  the  light,  still  busy  with  her  needle ; 
but  as  the  shadows  gathered  more  darkly, 
she  carelessly  dropped  her  work,  and  gazed 
thoughtfully  out  of  the  window.  Before  her 
—  the  snow-covered  marsh  alone  intervening 
• — the  broad  ocean  spread  itself  out,  an  un- 
broken field  of  waters,  far  to  the  right  and 
left.  It  lay  untossed  of  winds,  tranquil  as  a 
summer  sea,  its  blue  surface  undulating  in  its 
natural  swell  and  motion,  and  the  surf  rising 
and  breaking  on  the  white  beach  in  its  gen- 
tlest mood.  It  was  in  itself  a  picture  of  serene 
and  refreshing  beauty.  Presently,  upon  the 
opposite  sky,  just  where  it  touched  and  blend- 
ed with  the  blue  waters,  there  shot  up  rays 
and  glimmers  of  silvery  light,  the  lambent 
signs  of  some  unseen  but  approaching  glory. 


126  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

A  moment  more,  and  a  radiant  line  of  solid 
light  appeared  on  the  edge  of  the  eastern 
horizon.  On  and  up  it  came,  growing  every 
moment  in  beauty  and  brightness,  until,  ar 
rayed  in  the  fullness  of  her  splendid,  radiant 
attire,  the  full  moon  stepped  forth  in  queenly 
majesty  upon  the  watery,  waving  pavement 
A  sheet  of  lustrous  brightness  fell  from  her 
resplendent  form  upon  the  sea,  and,  all  along 
from  the  distant  horizon  to  the  sandy  shore, 
the  rippling  waters  gleamed  and  flashed  like 
diamonds  set  in  azure. 

"  All  thy  works  shall  praise  thee,  O  Lord, 
and  thy  saints  shall  bless  thee,"  was  the  in- 
voluntary exclamation  of  the  beholder  of  this 
magnificent,  unlooked-for  spectacle ;  and  she 
clasped  her  hands  in  delight  and  devout  ad- 
miration. 

"  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy  works !  in 
wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all,"  uttered  a 
gentle  voice  close  beside  her.  "  The  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament 
showeth  his  handiwork." 

"O  Lucy,"  said  the  first  speaker,  "have  you 
seen  this  glorious  sight?  Was  anything  ever 
so  beautiful?" 

"I  have  been  watching  it  with  you,  Annie," 
replied  the  other,  laying  her  arm  affectionately 


A  PEEP  INTO  A  MINISTER'S  STUDY.     127 

over  the  shoulder  of  her  friend.  "  You  were 
so  rapt  that  you  did  not  notice  my  entrance. 
No  wonder !  It  is  a  scene  that  fills  the  soul 
with  admiration,  and  lifts  it  up  above  and 
beyond  this  mortal  plane.  I  have  often  en- 
joyed it  from  this  very  spot,  and  it  is  a  spec- 
tacle that  never  tires.  It  is  really  worth  while 
to  live  in  Campfield,  if  only  to  enjoy  sunrise 
and  sunset  from  this  open  sea.  But,  Annie,  I 
came  to  see  what  had  happened  to  you.  What 
have  you  been  about  this  long  afternoon  ?  " 

"  Oh,  busy  as  usual,  getting  my  lesson  for 
to-morrow,  and  thinking  up  next  week's  work. 
The  fact  is,  my  sister  Lucy,  I  have  been  brought 
by  my  scholars  into  a  wee  bit  of  a  scrape." 

"  How  so  ?  That's  a  great  acknowledg- 
ment for  a  teacher,  surely ; "  and  sister  Lucy 
laughed  merrily. 

"  They  have  got  up  such  an  enthusiasm  on 
this  tobacco  question,  and,  of  course,  I  mustn't 
be  behindhand.  So  I  promised  to  give  them 
a  course  of  lectures  on  a  subject  I  know  noth- 
ing about  —  nothing  at  all.  I  really  don't 
know  where  to  get  my  information.  I  have 
never  seen  the  stuff  used  to  any  extent.  My 
father  never  used  it,  and  I  have  no  brother — " 

"  Or  lover  ?  "  asked  Lucy. 

"I  wouldn't  have  one  that  used  tobacco, 


128  THE   WINTER    SCHOOL. 

any  how,"  replied  Annie,  blushing.  "There 
was  a  young  gentleman  that  visited  at  our 
house  occasionally  who  smoked.  I  played 
checkers  with  him  one  evening,  and  that  was 
enough.  The  fumes  of  his  breath  across  the 
table  sickened  me."  % 

"  Perhaps  you'll  get  taken  in  some  day,  not- 
withstanding," suggested  Lucy,  drawing  down 
her  face  to  a  comical  length.  "  Such  things 
have  happened,  you  know." 

"  Xot  I.  I'm  too  sensitive  for  that.  I  can 
tell  a  smoker  as  soon  as  he  comes  within 
speaking  distance ;  and  a  chewer  —  I  can  tell 
him  as  far  off  as  I  can  see  him.  You  couldn't 
catch  me  any  quicker  than  I  could  catch  you, 
little  Mrs.  Pastoress,"  replied  Annie,  playfully. 

"  But  I  did  get  caught,  with  all  my  princi- 
ples and  caution,"  remarked  the  minister's 
wife,  more  seriously. 

"  You  ?  Impossible  !  Clarence  doesn't 
smoke ! " 

"  Not  now  —  he  did." 

"Lucy!  What  do  you  say?  I  can  scarcely 
believe  you." 

"'Tis  even  so.  my  dear  Annie;  and  since 
my  experience  may  be  one  item  added  to 
your  scanty  stock  of  knowledge  on  this  sub- 
ject, I  will  give  it  to  you;"  and  drawing  a 


A  PEEP  INTO  A  MINISTER'S  STUDY.    129 

low  seat  to  the  side  of  her  friend,  she  be- 
gan :  — 

"I  never  dreamed  of  such  a  thing  before 
my  marriage;  and  if  any  one  had  told  me 
that  Clarence  smoked,  I  should  have  resented 
it  indignantly.  Indeed,  if  I  had  suspected  it, 
I  believe  I  should  have  crucified  my  love  by 
saying  no;  but  after  we  were  married,  and 
settled  down  here  to  our  work,  it  all  came 
out.  Clarence  took  it  into  his  head  that  he 
couldn't  write  his  sermons  unless  I  would 
take  my  work  and  sit  with  him  in  his  study. 
Thursday  has  always  been  his  sermon  day, 
and  as  it  was  a  leisure  day  for  me,  I  agreed 
to  the  arrangement  very  willingly.  So  the 
first  week,  after  I  had  finished  my  morning 
work,  'red  up,'  as  aunt  Fortune  would  say,  I 
went  into  the  study.  As  I  opened  the  door, 
I  was  greeted  with  a  cloud  of  sickening  to- 
bacco smoke.  I  could  scarcely  believe  my 
senses. 

"'Why,  Clarence,'  I  cried,  'what  is  this? 
Do  you  smoke  ? ' 

" '  When  I'm  writing  sermons,  darling,'  said 
he,  quietly. 

"  I  was  speechless,  and  stood  quite  still  in 
the  doorway,  hardly  knowing  whether  to  go 
in  or  out. 

9* 


130  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"  '  "Won't  you  stay  ? '  he  asked.  '  Can't  you 
bear  it  ?  Is  it  very  unpleasant  to  you  ? ' 

" '  I  can  bear  any  thing  my  husband  can,  I 
suppose,'  said  I.  But  I  felt  very  badly.  I 
could  have  cried  like  a  child.  I  have  been 
brought  up  with  a  great  horror  of  tobacco, 
and  prided  myself,  that,  as  it  was  never  used 
in  my  mother's  house,  it  never  would  be  in 
mine.  I  was  disappointed  and  grieved  more 
than  I  can  tell  you.  Clarence  seemed  sorry 
that  I  felt  so  badly  about  it,  and  tried  to  rea- 
son with  me. 

" '  I  never  smoke  but  just  here,'  he  said ; 
'  but  here  I  need  it,  and  take  it  as  a  medicine, 
It  helps  me  wonderfully  in  composing  my 
mind  to  my  work,  in  arranging  my  ideas  — 
in  short,  I  .couldn't  build  a  sermon  without 
the  aid  of  a  good  Havana.' 

"'And  those  good  sermons  I  have  enjoyed 
so  much,  then,  are  the  offspring  of  tobacco 
smoke,'  I  said,  sorrowfully.  'How  are  the 
mighty  fallen  !  I  thought  they  indicated  tal- 
ent and  piety,  and  emanated  from  a  sacred 
inspiration.' 

" c  My  dear,  one  can  not  write  well  unless 
the  physical  condition  be  favorable.  A  good 
cigar  brings  me  into  just  that  condition.  It 
allays  all  nervous  irritation,  stimulates  the 


A  PEEP  INTO  A  MINISTER'S  STUDY.     131 

brain  slightly,  makes  thought  flow  freely,  fan* 
cy  play,  and  reason  clear  itself  from  fogs. 
Under  its  influence  I  can  argue,  illustrate, 
enforce  truth,  in  a  manner  astonishing  to 
myself.' 

" '  If  I  were  a  minister,'  I  said,  '  I  would  go 
into  my  study,  and,  kneeling  down,  would 
ask  "the  Almighty,  who  giveth  understand- 
ing," for  the  aid  I  needed  to  communicate  his 
message  to  the  people.  I  would  ask  for  clear 
perceptions  of  truth,  and  mental  ability  to 
clothe  it  in  language  clear  and  acceptable  to 
others.  I  would  seek  a  divine  influence  to 
compose  my  nerves,  to  lift  off  the  burden  of 
care,  to  enlighten  my  mind,  quicken  my  im- 
agination —  to  inspire  me.  I  would  not  call 
to  my  aid  a  paltry  stem  of  tobacco  for  such  a 
purpose.'  I  spoke  warmly,  but  I  felt  deeply. 
The  thing  seemed  to  me  absurd  and  wicked, 
and  I  was  grieved  that  the  one  I  loved  best, 
and  had  trusted  most,  should  be  guilty  of  it ; 
and  out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  my 
mouth  spoke. 

"  Clarence  took  it  very  good-naturedly. 
4  Oh,'  said  he,  '  you  don't  understand.  You 
don't  know  what  it  is  to  have  to  write  ser- 
mons at  just  such  a  time,  and  often  on  just 
Such  a  subject,  whether  you  feel  like  it  or  not. 


132  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

Work  that  only  requires  physical  activity  you 
can  compel  yourself  to  perform ;  but  mental 
labor  is  quite  different.  I'm  sorry  you  don't 
like  the  smoke,  darling.  But  I  won't  inflict 
it  as  a  penance  upon  you.  I  would  rather 
relinquish  the  pleasure  of  your  society  than  to 
have  you  suffer.' 

"'Oh,  no,'  I  said,  CI  shall  stay.  I  must 
learn  to  live  in  any  atmosphere  my  husband 
is  obliged  to  breathe.'  So  I  took  a  chair  by 
the  open  window,  and  sat  down  to  work. 

"  Things  weni  on  so  for  some  time.  I 
thought  the  matter  over  a  great  deal,  but 
could  not  reconcile  myself  to  it  any  way.  I 
could  only  look  at  it  in  one  light,  as  some- 
thing disagreeable  to  me,  and  wrong  in  my 
husband.  But  I  was  not  dictator  to  him ;  so 
I  said  nothing  further  about  it;  but  I  prayed 
most  earnestly  that  the  Lord  would  lead  him 
out  of  what  I  felt  would  prove  a  certain  snare. 
I  felt  that  it  would  undermine  his  health  and 
his  Christian  character ;  but  above  all,  that  it 
was  degrading  the  holy  work  of  the  gospel 
ministry.  Could  divine  truth  be  elaborated 
and  expounded  only  under  the  influence  of  a 
poisonous  drug?  Was  not  the  Spirit  of  God 
able  to  do,  in  answer  to  prayer,  as  much  as  a 
material  stimulant  would  effect?  Did  the 


A   PEEP    ESTTO   A   MINISTER'S    STUDY.       133 

preacher  of  God's  holy  word  need  to  pollute 
the  medium  through  which  the  message  of 
salvation  was  to  come  to  dying  men,  by  an 
intoxicating  appliance,  before  it  could  be  made 
to  fulfill  its  office  ? 

"  One  day,  when  my  husband  was  over  to 
Sampville  on  business,  I  was  sent  for  in  great 
haste  to  go  over  to  Deacon  Ward's.  Their 
little  Olivia  had  been  ill,  and  was  then  thought 
to  be  dying.  She  was  a  beautiful  child,  one 
of  those  sweet,  engaging  little  ones  whom 
every  body  loves ;  and  to  her  parents  she  was 
a  complete  idol,  the  pride  and  delight  of  their 
eyes.  I  never  saw  such  a  distressed  family. 
The  house  was  full  of  friends  and  neighbors, 
weeping  and  wringing  their  hands ;  and  it 
was  really  agonizing  to  witness  such  grief. 
They  wanted  me  to  pray  with  them.  You 
can  judge  what  a  trial  it  was.  I  was  so 
young,  and  never  had  had  any  experience  by 
which  I  could  appreciate  their  sorrow;  and  I 
was  timid,  too,  and  bashful  under  any  circum- 
stances. What  could  I  do  ?  I  couldn't  refuse, 
and  yet  I  felt  very  unequal  to  the  require- 
ment. However,  I  did  the  best  I  could,  and 
commended  them  to  the  God  of  all  comfort, 
—  it  was  of  no  use  for  me  to  try  to  comfort 
them,  —  and  then  I  went  home.  But  I  felt 


134  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

dissatisfied  and  disturbed  in  my  mind  that  I 
hadn't  done  better." 

"That  was  vanity,  my  dear,"  whispered 
Annie,  in  a  confidential  manner ;  "  don't  you 
think  so?" 

"Yes,  upon  the  whole,  I  think  it  was," 
replied  Lucy,  smiling ;  "  you  probably  un- 
derstand the  feeling,  or  you  couldn't  have 
analyzed  it  so  readily.  Well,  when  Clarence 
came  home,  I  told  him  what  a  trial  I  had  been 
through ;  and  instead  of  being  sorry  for  me, 
and  sympathizing,  as  I  supposed  he  would,  he 
seemed  delighted. 

«  'That's  all  right,'  said  he,  'all  right.  ]\Iy 
little  bashful  wife  has  got  to  be  brought  out, 
and  that's  just  the  way.  You  are  a  minis- 
ter's wife,  my  dear,  and  are  bound  to  help 
your  husband  in  all  his  labors  among  the  peo- 
ple ;  and  when  he's  away,  you  must  step  right 
into  his  place.  Some  day,  when  I  am  sick, 
you'll  have  to  go  into  the  pulpit  and  preach 
for  me,'  said  he,  playfully. 

"'^Tever  stepping  out  of  my  own  sphere,'  I 
replied,  laughing;  'but  I'll  tell  you  what  I 
can  do :  I  can  go  into  the  study  and  write 
your  sermon  if  necessary.' 

"  *  1  dare  say  you  would  fill  either  position 


A  PEEP  INTO  A  MINISTER'S  STUDY.     135 

extremely  well,'  said  he,  with  one  of  his  pro- 
found bows. 

" '  But  I  must  learn  to  smoke  first,'  said  I. 
I  spoke  before  I  thought.  It  was  a  subject 
we  had  not  broached  since  that  first  day ;  and 
when  the  words  were  out,  I  didn't  know  how 
they  would  be  received. 

"  Clarence  looked  at  me,  and  smiled  a  little, 
but  he  didn't  speak.  I  thought  it  struck  him 
rather  strangely  —  the  idea  of  my  learning  to 
smoke,  as  a  preparation  for  helping  him  in  his 
pastoral  duties.  I  confess  that  the  idea  was 
as  new  to  me  as  the  words  were  sudden ;  but 
it  did  not  pass  away  so  quickly.  I  turned  it 
over  and  over  again  in  my  mind.  '  Suppose 
I  should  learn  to  smoke,'  said  I  to  myself, 
1  and  let  him  see  how  absurd  it  would  appear.' 
Why  shouldn't  a  woman  smoke  as  well  as  a 
man  ?  If  it  is  really  a  sedative,  a  tranquilizer, 
surely  she  needs  it  more  than  man.  If  it 
affords  a  healthy  exhilaration  when  important 
or  extra  duties  demand  an  increase  of  activ- 
ity, why  may  it  not  be  allowed  her  as  well  as 
her  husband  ?  I  made  up  my  mind  to  try  it, 
and  see  what  the  effect  on  Clarence  would  be. 
I  practiced  when  he  was  not  at  home.  At 
first,  it  made  me  quite  faint  and  sick ;  but  by 


ISO  THE    WlA-TEB    SCHOOL. 

doing  it  moderately,  I  accustomed  myself 
gradually  to  the  practice,  and  could  presently 
do  it  with  quite  the  air  of  an  amateur.  Now 
came  the  time  to  try  my  experiment ;  and  I 
tell  you  it  was  not  without  some  trepidation 
that  I  entered  the  study  that  Thursday  morn- 
ing. I  opened  my  desk  by  the  window  where 
I  usually  sat,  and  spread  out  my  paper  for 
writing.  Then  I  went  to  the  table  where 
Clarence  sat,  selected  a  cigar  from  the  holder, 
took  a  match,  and  lighted  it.  I  puffed  and 
whiffed  as  though  I  were  used  to  it.  I  did 
not  look  at  Clarence,  but  just  went  to  work 
as  if  it  were  an  ordinary,  every-day  occur- 
rence. But  I  felt  that  he  was  looking  at  me 
all  the  while.  He  stopped  writing,  and  I  knew 
he  was  watching  me.  At  last,  in  a  surprised, 
wondering  tone,  he  said,  — 

"'Lucy,  will  you  have  the  goodness  to  tell 
me  what  you  are  going  to  do  ? ' 

"  'I  am  going  to  try  my  luck  at  a  sermon,' 
I  answered,  lifting  the  cigar  from  my  lips,  and 
waiting  leisurely  for  the  smoke  to  escape.  I 
didn't  look  at  him,  but  hurried  to  my  seat,  for 
I  knew  that  one  look  would  upset  my  grav- 
ity, my  courage,  and  my  whole  design.  He 
made  no  reply ;  but  I  knew  he  was  thinking, 


A  PEEP  INTO  A  MINISTER'S  STILDF.     137 

for  I  didn't  hear  the  scratch  of  his  pen.  I 
went  on  steadily.  I  wrote,  and  smoked,  and 
whiffed  away,  and  poised  my  cigar,  as  he  did, 
thoughtfully  on  my  fingers,  tipped  off  the 
ashes,  and  spit.  Yes,  I  went  through  the 
whole  performance  !  Oh,  dear  !  how  mean  I 
should  have  felt  doing  such  dirty  business, 
had  it  not  been  that  the  motive  ennobled  the 
occupation  for  the  time  being !  The  earnest 
desire  of  my  heart  that  my  husband  might 
see  the  practice  in  its  true  light,  through  my 
adoption  of  it,  sanctified  the  means,  to  my 
thinking,  and  so  I  kept  on.  For  about  ten 
minutes  we  sat  so  —  Clarence -musing,  and  I 
smoking  and  writing  as  if  my  life  depended 
on  it.  Then  he  rose  and  came  to  me. 

"'Lucy,'  said  he,  'it  is  ridiculous.  I  own 
it.  Look  here,  darling ; '  and  he  threw  his 
cigar  out  of  the  window  as  far  as  he  could 
throw  it.  It  alighted  at  the  foot  of  that  rose 
bush  yonder — then  full  of  delicious  damask 
roses.  'I  shall  never  defile  my  lips  with  a 
cigar  again,  so  help  me  God,'  he  said,  sol- 
emnly. 

"  I  looked  up  at  him.  A  tear  was  standing 
in  each  eye,  and  I  perceived  that  he  was  very 
serious.  He  didn't  treat  it  as  a  joke,  at  all ; 


138  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

and  1  was  glad  of  it.  I  took  the  cigar  from 
my  own  mouth,  and  threw  it  so  that  it  fell  by 
the  side  of  his. 

"'./will  never  smoke  again,  either,'  said  I. 
CI  can  make  any  sacrifice  my  husband  can.' 

" l  Share  in  any  legitimate,  heaven-appointed 
sacrifice,  you  may,  Lucy,'  said  he  ;  « but  never 
may  I  see  you  participate  in  a  sacrifice  of 
health,  character,  or  Christian  feeling.  You 
shall  share  labor  with  me,  but  not  transgres- 
sion. I  said  the  other  day  that  you  must  be 
ready  to  do  any  thing  that  I  did.  Xow  I  say 
that  I  will  never  do  any  thing  which  I  would 
not  like  to  see  you  do.' 

"  When  we  sat  down  to  tea  that  evening,  I 
brought  in  a  handful  of  those  beautiful  roses, 
and  threw  them  down  on  the  table.  Clarence 
smiled.  He  knew  wThat  they  were  designed 
to  commemorate ;  and  I  don't  believe  he  will 
ever  look  at  that  bush,  or  enjoy  the  fragrance 
of  the  blossoms,  without  remembering  and 
reiterating  his  resolution.  He  pointed  to  it 
as  we  were  passing  the  other  day  and  called 
it  our  JRose  de  Souvenance*  His  sermons 
have  been  better  lately  than  they  ever 
were." 

*  Rose  of  Remembrance. 


A  PEEP  INTO  A  MINISTER'S  STUDY.     139 

"You  are  a  darling,  good  little  woman, 
Lucy,"  said  Annie,  putting  her  arm  around 
her  friend,  and  kissing  her  affectionately; 
"more  radiant  in  the  eyes  of  your  husband 
than  that  glorious  moon  shining  in  upon  us 
so  magnificently.  You  will  'do  him  good, 
and  not  evil,  all  the  days  of  your  life.' " 


140  THE   WINTER    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

A  DANGEROUS  LUXURY. 

THE  third  lecture  day  brought  quite  an  ad- 
dition to  Miss  More's  little  audience.  Several 
persons  from  the  neighborhood  dropped  in, 
and  two  families,  from  the  far  districts  of  the 
town,  sent  representatives  to  learn  more  accu- 
rately what  was  going  on  in  the  "new  school," 
the  fame  of  which  had  spread  all  over  Camp- 
field.  Mrs.  Deacon  Gooch,  and  her  daughter 
J.annah,  came  over,  and  to  the  astonishment 
of  several  of  the  boys,  who  were  eagerly  watch- 
ing the  signs  of  the  times,  Bill  —  the  refrac- 
tory, untamable  Bill  —  had  been  induced  to 
remain  to  hear  the  lecture  with  them.  Surely 
the  enterprise  was  growing  in  favor  with  the 
community,  and  the  hearts  of  Tristram  and 
Sidney  were  overflowing  with  joy. 

Miss  More  announced  her  subject  —  The 
Effects  of  Tobacco  upon  the  Bodily  Health. 

"  The  chief  argument  in  favor  of  tobacco, 
among  all  classes,  is,  that  the  health  requires 
it.  Xever  was  there  a  greater  mistake.  It  is 
the. most  prolific  agent  of  pain  and  disease 


A   DANGEROUS    LUXURY.  141 

known.  Even  spirituous  liquors  are  scarcely 
more  destructive  to  life  and  health.  Dr.  Shew 
has  enumerated  no  less  than  eighty  severe 
diseases  caused  by  tobacco,  many  of  them  the 
most  dangerous  to  which  the  human  system 
is  liable.  It  impairs  every  sense  and  faculty, 
consumes  every  energy,  restricts  every  capaci- 
ty, so  that  from  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the 
sole  of  the  foot,  not  an  organ  or  member  can 
escape  its  deadly  influence.  Sight,  hearing, 
smell,  taste,  each  fails  before  the  monster,  and 
every  beautiful  thing  in  life,  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  which  these  senses  were  created,  is 
in  consequence  palled  and  blighted." 

"  If  it  is  so  bad,"  asked  Sidney,  "  why  do 
doctors  give  it  ?  'Most,  every  body  that  uses 
it  says  that  the  doctor  ordered  it." 

"  Medical  men  are  themselves  often  slaves 
to  the  use  of  the  filthy  weed,  and  are  ignorant, 
willfully  or  otherwise,  or  perhaps  unobservant, 
of  its  very  deleterious  effects.  But  you  may 
note  that  it  is  not  the  truly  scientific,  learned, 
or  honest  physician  who  will  prescribe  it, — 
except  in  extreme  cases,  —  or  allow  its  use, 
unrebuked,  among  his  patients. 

"  Dr.  Shew  says,  '  It  is  admitted  by  physi- 
cians that  there  are  several  articles  in  the 
ma'ieria  medica  which  possess  all  its  good 


142  THE    WIXTER    SCHOOL. 

qualities,  and  are,  at  the  same  time,  compara- 
tively safe ;  and  probably  not  one  patient  of 
ten  thousand  treated  allopathically  in  any  of 
the  more  civilized  countries,  for  the  past  fifty 
years,  has  had  tobacco  administered  to  him. 
It  is  so  dangerous  a  medicine  that  it  is  almost 
never  used  by  the  profession.  Yet  there  are 
those  who  hold  human  life  so  little  worth, 
that,  to  avoid  trouble,  or  to  gain  favor  with 
their  patrons,  they  will  recommend  or  allow 
its  use  at  the  choice  and  discretion  of  patients 
themselves.  It  is  easier  to  tell  a  man  to  smoke 
for  a  suffering  condition  of  the  tonsils  and 
pharynx,  than  to  encounter  his  prejudices,  and 
lose  his  custom,  by  assuring  him  that  smoking 
has  caused  that  very  diseased  condition,  and 
nothing  will  cure  it  but  an  utter  abandonment 
of  the  practice.'  " 

"Can  you  ask  questions  when  you  want 
to  ? "  asked  Bill  Gooch  of  one  of  his  neigh- 
bors, in  a  loud  whisper. 

"  Certainly,"  answered  Miss  More,  who  had 
heard  the  inquiry.  "  I  icish  you  to  ask  any 
questions  pertinent  to  the  subject.  What 
would  you  like  to  know,  Gooch  ?  " 

"  I  want  to  know  how  it  happens  that  folks 
live  to  be  so  old,  and  chew  and  smoke  all 
their  life  long  if  it  is  such  a  poison." 


A   DANGEROUS    LUXURY.  143 

"  That  is  a  very  important  question,  since 
it  has  been  often  used  as  an  argument  in  favor 
of  tobacco.  I  will  answer  it  in  the  words  of 
another,"  said  Miss  More,  as  she  took  up  a 
little  book  from  the  table  beside  her.  " '  It 
has  been  asserted,  in  favor  of  tobacco,  that 
some,  who  use  the  article  habitually,  live  to  a 
good  old  age.  The  same  thing  has  often  been 
said  in  favor  of  alcoholic  drinks.  We  know 
a  man  may  live,  not  only  "  threescore  years 
and  ten,"  but  to  one  hundred  years  and  up- 
ward, drinking  spirits  daily  for  three  fourths 
of  his  life.  Such  a  case  only  proves  that  a 
man,  with  a  good  constitution  and  regular 
habits  in  every  thing  else,  may,  in  spite  of  the 
alcoholic  poison,  hold  out  to  a  great  age.  The 
same  is  true  of  tobacco.  Nor  does  any  one 
clairn^  that  it  ever  prolongs  life.'  Dr.  Alcott 
says,  ;  I  have  known  some  persons  live  to  old 
age  in  the  extravagant  use  of  tobacco ;  but 
they  bear  a  small  proportion  to  those  who,  by 
the  habit  of  using  it,  have  been  swept  into 
the  grave  in  early  or  middle  life.' " 

"I  never  heard  of  any  body  dying  from 
tobacco,"  said  the  skeptical  youth. 

"  Very  likely ;  but  you  frequently  hear  of 
deaths  from  apoplexy,  palsy,  cancer,  bronchitis, 
consumption,  heart  disease,  insanity.  Now, 


144  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

any  one  of  these  diseases  may  be  caused,  ac- 
cording to  the  authority  of  our  most  learned 
medical  men,  directly  by  the  use  of  tobacco. 
One  doctor  says,  'More  people  have  died,  in 
one  year,  of  apoplexy,  since  the  first  introduc- 
tion of  snuff,  than  died  of  that  disease  in  a 
hundred  years  before.'  And  this  is  but  one  of 
the  many  diseases  which  might  be  alluded  to. 

"  But  the  use  of  this  terrible  poison  not  only 
originates  disease,  it  aggravates  the  symptoms 
of  those  which  have  their  origin  in  other 
causes;  so  that  a  tobacco-user  often  falls  a 
victim  to  disorders  which  in  a  healthy  subject 
might  be  readily  cured.  In  malarious  dis- 
tricts, or  where  an  epidemic,  as  cholera  or 
yellow  fever,  prevails,  they  are  usually  among 
the  earliest  and  greatest  sufferers." 

"Dr.  Wilcox^told  my  father  to  chewfo^*  the 
toothache,  any  how,"  said  a  little  girl. 

"That  is  frequently  the  excuse  for  using  it, 
Eliza,"  replied  her  teacher,  "  and  probably  its 
occasional  use  in  such  a  case  might  be  benefi- 
cial. Its  immediate  effect  is  to  quiet  the 
nerves  and  allay  pain ;  but  the  opinion  that  it 
preserves  the  teeth,  if  we  can  believe  those 
who  make  the  treatment  of  the  teetfi  their 
special  business,  is  a  grossly  mistaken  one.  It 
is  stated  by  dentists  that  the  teeth  of  tobacco- 


A   DANGEROUS   LUXURY.  145 

chewers  are  in  reality  less  perfect  than  those 
of  other  people,  and  that  their  gums  are  par- 
ticularly diseased. 

"*So  it  has  been  recommended  for  dyspepsia, 
and  yet  there  is  not  probably  a  more  fruitful 
cause  of  this  disease.  It  requires  no  great 
degree  of  intelligence  to  perceive  «this  fact. 
Saliva  impregnated  with  smoke  and  swallowed 
will  preserve  whatever  food  it  comes  in  con- 
tact with,  in  the  form  in  which  it  is  found. 
The  stomach,  then,  instead  of  performing  its 
work  of  dissolving  the  food  and  preparing  it 
for  assimilation  with  the  system,  serves  only 
as  a  receptacle  for  that  which  becomes  a  clog 
and  burden  rather  than  a  nutrition  and  help 
to  the  body.  The  increased  quantity  of  saliva 
expended  in  chewing  and  smoking  drains  off 
the  vitality  of  the  system,  and  is  another 
cause  of  impairing  the  important  function 
of  digestion.  The  mouth  and  throat,  after 
having  been  exposed  to  this  stimulation,  lose 
the  power  of  taste,  and  it  becomes  necessa- 
ry that  the  food,  to  be  palatable,  should  be 
highly  seasoned  with  various  exciting  condi- 
ments ;  which  process,  of  itself,  is  a  sufficient 
cause  of  indigestion.  This  poisoned  saliva 
affects  the  liver,  kidneys,  and  every  internal 
organ,  deranges  the  whole  bodily  machinery, 
10 


146  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

prevents  the  legitimate  appropriation  of  food 
creates  intolerable  thirst,  which  strong  drink 
alone  will  quell ;  in  fact,  it  utterly  consumes 
the  person.  A  German  physician  says,  "that 
of  the  deaths  occurring  among  men,  in  Ger- 
many, between  eighteen  and  thirty-five  years 
of  age,  o^e  half  are  from  the  effects  of  smoking. 
He  asserts  that  '  tobacco  burns  out  the  blood, 
the  teeth,  the  eyes,  the  brain.'  How  can  it  be 
otherwise  ?  Any  drug  taken  daily  would  pro- 
duce disease  and  death,  and  this  is  ouejof  the 
most  virulent  poisons  ever  discovered.  How 
can  people  be  so  blind  to  its  effects,  so  en- 
slaved to  the  appetite,  as  to  use  it  in  spite  of 
its  frightful  consequences  ?  " 


AN   OUT-DOOR   SERMON.  147 

ft 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

t 

AN  OUT-DOOR  SERMON. 

DEACON  GOOCH  was  passing  in  his  sleigh 
just  as  the  little  assembly  was  dispersing  from, 
the  school-room  door,  and  perceiving  sundry 
members  of  his  own  family  interspersed  among 
the  various  groups,  he  very  naturally  stopped 
to  take  them  in. 

"  Upon  my  word,  Sally,"  exclaimed  he  to 
his  wife,  as  her  huge  proportions  clambered 
into  the  vehicle,  "  what  on  airth  brought  you 
down  here?  Should  as  soon  a'  thought  o' 
picking  up  a  salmon  on  the  beach.  What's 
up  now?" 

"We  heerd.  the  schoolma'am  was  goin'  to 
talk  this  arternoon,  and  Hannath  tuk  it  inter 
her  head  to  come  down  —  so  I  come  with 
her." 

"  Hannah  ?  and  Bill,  too,  'pon  my  word  ! 
Bless  me,  you're  thick  as  peas.  Come,  jump 
in  quick." 

"  Oh,  father,  do  ask  Miss  More  to  ride ;  do," 
suggested  Hannah.  "  She  might  as  well  ride 
as  walk." 


148  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"To  be  sure;  why,  of  course  —  'tis  jest  as 
cheap,  seem'  as  I  shan't  charge  nothin'.  Make 
room  for»her.  Holloa,  there  !  Miss  More  ! 
Won't  you  jump  in  ?  Plenty  of  room." 

"  Plenty  of  room,"  repeated  Bill,  with  un- 
common deference,  as  he  swung  out  of  the 
box  and  attached  himself  to  the  runners. 
•  "Plenty  of  room;  jump  in  —  up-a-diddy," 
shouted  the  deacon^  in  a  rude  attempt  at 
mingling  the  polite  and  playful.  "  Bless  me, 
you're  as  light  as  the  eeder  down.  And  so 
you've  raly  bin  holdin'  a  meetin',"  he  con- 
tinued, as  he  adjusted  the  blankets  around 
the  little  figure.  "  Tell  me,  now,  what  it's 
all  about." 

"About  tobacco,  father,"  said  Hannah. 
"Don't  you  know  Major  Perkins's  wife  told 
us  last  night  about  it ;  how  they  had  a  society 
down  there,  and  how  Miss  More  delivered 
lectures ;  and  I  wanted  Bill  to  stay  and  hear 
'em,  and  he  wouldn't  without  I  came  ?  " 

"  And  you  ought  to  have  heerd  it,"  added 
Hannah's  mother.  "  You  wouldn't  smoke  and 
chew  so,  I  know,  if  you  only  heerd  what  she 
said." 

"Wouldn't  I?  Well,  now,  I  should  like 
to  know,"  said  the  deacon,  as  if  he  would 
Lave  added,  "If  you  think  I'm  the  man  to  be 


AN   OUT-DOOR    SERMON.  149 

converted  by  what  a  woman  says,  and  a 
young  woman  at  that ! "  But  he  didrft  add 
that.  In  place  of  it,  he  cast  what  he  meant 
to  be  a  very  benignant  look  upon  the  young 
lady.  Well  he  remembered  all  the  serious 
apprehensions  he  had  felt  with  regard  to  her 
advent  in  Campiield,  and  how,  since  the 
opening  of  her  administration,  he  had  won- 
dered often  and  often  by  what  irresistible 
charm  she  had  so  won  upon  his  turbulent  and 
unruly  boy,  that,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  he 
had  caused  him  no  trouble  with  his  "schoolin'." 
"I  don't  see  how  she  doos  it,"  he  said,  in  an 
undertone,  as  he  stole  a  second  glance  at  her, 
and  gathered  up  the  reins ;  "  there  isn't  much 
to  her,  any  how." 

The  much  of  a  person,  deacon,  is  to  be 
measured  inwardly,  not  outwardly ;  by  attain- 
ments, not  stature ;  by  weight  of  the  spiritual, 
not  the  corporeal. 

"Come,  now,  dew  tell,  as  we're  glibbin' 
along,"  said  he,  in  a  familiar  manner.  Famil- 
iarity and  condescension  he  fancied  to  be  po- 
liteness in  such  a  case  as  this,  where  age,  and 
dignity,  and  mental  superiority  were  brought 
by  circumstances  alongside  of  youth  and  ap- 
parent nothingness.  Poor,  obtuse  Deacon 
Gooch!  "Come,  now,"  said  he,  "give  us  a 


150  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

sort  o'  summarium  of  your  lecture  —  can't 
ye?" 

"  She  made  it  out  to  be  regular  poison, 
I  tell  you,"  says  Bill. 

"Now,  ye  don't,"  rejoined  the  old  man; 
"  why,  that's  truly  orful.  But  every  body's  a 
right  to  their  own  opinion,  of  course.  So  you 
raly  think  so — do  ye,  Miss  More?  I've  lived, 
nigh  on  to  sixty  years,  and  it  hasn't  pisoned 
me  yet." 

"Now,  don't  laugh  and  make  fun,  father," 
said  Hannah,  seriously;  "you  just  let  Miss 
More  tell  you  her  reasons  for  not  using  to- 
bacco. I  wish  you  would." 

"Oh,  well,  sartain.  To  be  sure,  I'd  like 
first  rate  to  hear.  I'm  an  old  man,  but  chil- 
dren's wiser  than  their  parents  nowadays. 
'Tisn't  to  be  expected  that  young  folks  should 
know  quite  as  much  as  the  old  folks ;  but  then 
this  one's  a  schoolmistress,  and  head  and 
shoulders  over  common  folks,  I  s'pose  !  "  and 
he  gave  a  low  bow,  and  what  might  have 
been  intended  as  a  mocking1  or  a  complimen- 
tary look  at  the  young  lady. 

What  strange,  ill-mannered,  disagreeable 
people  there  are  in  this  world !  If  we  only 
could  navigate  in  and  out  the  ways  of  life 
around  all  such  persons,  coming  in  contact 


AN"   OUT-DOOR    SEEMOX.  151 

only  with  the  well-bred,  refined,  and  charm- 
ing, how  comfortable  it  would  be !  So  thought 
our  young  friend,  as  she  turned,  involuntarily, 
tp  hide  the  feeling  of  disgust  and  aversion 
that  rose  within.  But  a  desire  to  do  good 
triumphed.  This  man's  son  was  her  pupil; 
and  for  her  pupils,  like  a  little  heroine  that 
she  was,  she  could  adventure  much.  She  had 
noticed,  with  pleasure,  Bill's  attendance  upon 
the  afternoon's  exercises,  and  believed  the 
good  seed  had  been  well  received  into  his 
heart;  and  to  nurture  and  develop  this  into 
the  healthy  fruit  of  good  practice  she  was 
ready  to  use  her  endeavors.  So,  smothering 
all  her  antipathies  and  disgusts,  she  addressed 
herself,  with  a  pleasant  smile  and  a  frank, 
modest  demeanor,  to  the  conversation. 

"  There  is  scarcely  time  for  me  to  give  you 
now,  Mr.  Gooch,  all  the  motives  for  not  using 
tobacco ;  but  I  can  mention  some  of  them." 

"Go  on,  go  on,"  urged  the  deacon;  "I'll 
drive  round  the  triangle.  It's  wonderful  good 
sleighing,  and  'taint  very  cold,  nuther."  So, 
pulling  up  the  buffalo,  and  giving  it  a  sort  of 
authoritative  tuck  around  the  form  of  his 
companion,  accompanied  by  a  familiar  "  Gee 
up,  Billy,"  to  his  old  nag,  he  composed  himself 
to  listen. 


152  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"  You  will  allow  me  to  speak  plainly,  Mr. 
Gooch." 

"  Sartain,  sartain  —  to  be  sure." 

"  I  don't  think  it  is  becoming  in  a  sensible 
man,  and  especially  in  a  Christian,  to  use  to- 
bacco, in  the  first  place,  because  the  habit  is 
so  excessively  filthy.  It  is  offensive  to  every 
feeling  of  taste  and  refinement." 

"  Ha,  ha,  ha !  you're  a  woman ;  that  speaks 
right  out  straight.  Nobody  but  a  woman 
would  think  of  such  a  reason.  "We  men  don't 
stand  so  on  the  nice.  Ha,  ha !  Well,  to  be 
sure,  women  do  have  to  do  the  cleanin'  up ; 
but  then  that's  all  they're  fit  for,  pretty  much." 

An  indignant  glance  burned  in  the  mild 
eyes  of  the  young  lady,  and  her  first  impulse 
was  to  close  her  lips  henceforth  to  the  coarse, 
unappreciative  being  beside  her.  But  grace 
triumphed. 

"  Mr.  Gooch,"  said  she,  "  you  may  not  think 
much  of  that  reason;  so  we  will  not  enlarge 
upon  it.  It  is,  in  reality,  the  least  of  the  rea- 
sons to  be  urged  against  the  practices  of  which 
we  are  speaking.  Still  I  think  it  is  not  so 
small  a  matter  that  a  person  should  make 
himself  repulsive  to  his  family  and  associates, 
by  the  filthiness  of  his  personal  habits.  If 
the  tables  were  turned,  and  woman  should 


AN   OUT-DOOR    SERMON.  153 

be  guilty  of  such  an  outrage  upon  decency, 
the  custom  would  speedily  be  condemned. 
But  a  more  important  consideration  is  the 
health.  Tobacco  is  pronounced  by  medical 
men  to  be  the  most  pernicious  and  poisonous 
of  all  plants.  Used  in  any  form,  it  deranges 
the  system,  causes  various  diseases,  and  hurries 
its  victim  to  the  grave  before  he  has  lived  out 
half  his  allotted  time." 

"  Guess,  when  a  man  dies,  his  time's  come ; 
that's  my  doctrine,  young  or  old,  my  young 
woman." 

"  The  design  of  our  Creator,  without  doubt, 
was,  that  man  should  live  to  a  good  old  age, 
and  die,  as  fruit  falls  when  it  is  fully  ripe ;  but 
owing  to  the  habitual  violation  of  natural 
laws,  very  few  fulfill  their  destiny  in  that  re- 
gard. Of  all  the  violations  of  nature,  none 
can  be  more  flagrant  or  fatal  than  the  daily 
use  of  a  positive  poison.  But  the  effect  of 
tobacco  upon  the  constitution  is  insidious, 
and,  therefore,  not  readily  credited.  People 
will  believe  that  any  thing,  rather  than  a  pet 
indulgence,  produces  the  disastrous  and  grow- 
ing infirmities  they  deplore.  But  there  is 
another  consideration  which  I  should  think 
would  influence  people.  It  is  the  eifect  upon 
the  purse." 


154  THE    WETTER    SCHOOL. 

Here  Miss  More  felt  that  she  had  reached  a 
strong  point.  She  knew,  from  observation 
and  hearsay,  that  the  deacon  was  very  fond 
of  his  money.  Nothing  but  the  bare  neces- 
saries of  life  was  accorded  to  his  family,  and 
had  it  been  suggested  to  him  to  use  the  money 
which  he  annually  expended  on  tobacco,  in 
appliances  of  taste  and  adornment  about  his 
dwelling,  he  would  have  resented  it  as  a  ruin- 
ous extravagance.  So  blind  is  selfishness. 

"  When  we  spend  money,"  continued  Miss 
More,  "  we  expect  to  receive  something  in 
return  which  shall  be  an  equivalent,  and  even 
more  desirable  than  the  money  itself;  some- 
thing that  will  stand  and  remain  with  us  in 
its  place.  Else  why  should  we  make  the  ex- 
change ?  But  money  spent  for  tobacco  is 
whiffed  away  in  smoke,  or  showered  uselessly 
and  indecently  around  in  disgusting  expecto- 
rations. What  is  left  to  show  for  it  ?  " 

"  Well,  raly,  now,  that  is  a  stumper ;  but  let 
me  see,"  said  the  old  man,  rubbing  his  hand 
across  his  eyes,  and  giving  another  encour- 
aging shout  to  old  Billy,  as  if  to  evoke  mean- 
while some  idea.  "  Why,  now,  my  dear  young 
woman,  you  can  say  jest  that  very  thing  of  the 
rictuals  we  eat.  When  they're  eat  up,  there's 
nothing  left,  victuals  nor  money  nuther." 


AN   OUT-DOOR   SEEMON.  155 

"  But  your  food  has  become  incorporated 
into  your  body,  and  imparts  strength  and 
vitality  to  it  throughout.  It  makes  bones, 
muscle,  blood,  nerve  power.  It  helps  you 
work,  it  helps  you  think,  it  helps  you  enjoy; 
in  fact,  it  sustains  your  whole  existence.  But 
tobacco  gives  no  support,  but  —  " 

"I  don'  no.  I  think  tobacco's  a  regular 
stand  by.  A  good  cigar  when  I'm  layin'  off, 
or  a  mouthful  of  sweet  Cavendish  when  I'm 
workin',  is  victuals  and  drink  too." 

"  It  is  very  expensive,  however,  Mr.  Gooch, 
you  will  find,  if  you  will  take  pains  to  reckon. 
How  much  do  you  suppose  you  have  spent  in 
all  your  life  for  it  ?  I  heard  your  son  telling 
some  one,  the  other  day,  he  meant  to  have  a 
good  farm  out  West  to  begin  life  with,  but  he 
didn't  know  how  he  should  manage  to  get  it, 
for  his  father  wouldn't  have  any  thing  to  give 
him.  Now,  let  us  make  a  calculation  if  you 
haven't  puffed  away  and  swallowed  money 
enough  to  buy  a  tolerable  farm  out  West. 
How  many  years  have  you  smoked?" 

"  Well,  I  s'pose  I  might  as  well  be  good- 
natered  'bout  it,  seein'  as  ye're  goin'  to  bring 
the  old  man  up  to  the  whippin'  post.  I've 
been  smokin'  about  forty  odd  years.  I  re- 
member I  begun  when  I  was  chorin'  it  down 


156  THE   WINTER   SCHOOL. 

to  the  Pint,  on  old  Mr.  Little's  farm ;  that's 
forty-three  years  ago.  But  then  I  hain't 
chawed  all  that  time.  I  begun  to  chaw  one 
winter,  when  I  had  the  toothache  most  orful. 
Let  me  see  — 'twas  that  horrid  cold  winter, 
when  the  water  froze  to  the  critters'  noses  in 
the  sun  —  a  year  or  two  after  the  war." 

"  Say  it  was  thirty  years  ago." 

"  Well,  yes,  'twas  fall  that  —  thirty  odd,  X 
guess." 

"How  much  do  you  smoke  a  week,  Mr 
Gooch?" 

"  I  don't  scurcely  like  to  tell,"  said  the  dea 
con.  "  'Taint  hardly  fair  to  make  a  man  con- 
fess his  sins  'fore  his  family ;  howsomever,  I'll 
go  it.  I  didn't  begin  with  cigars ;  them  was 
costly  those  days.  I  smoked  a  pipe  in  old 
times,  and  used  up  about  a  fourpence  ha'- 
penny a  week  for  it.  Now  that  ain't  much." 

"Twenty  years'  use  of  a  pipe  cost  you,  then," 
said  Miss  More,  after  a  little  mental  arithme- 
tic, "  about  sixty-five  dollars.  Twenty  years' 
use  of  cigars  will  be — how  many  a  week, 
Mr.  Gooch?" 

"  Guess,"  said  the  deacon,  with  an  attempt  at 
humor;  "see,  now,  if  you're  Yankee  enough." 

"  Three  a  day,  I  know,  is  considered  a  very 
reasonable  allowance." 


AJST   OUT-DOOR   SERMON.  157 

"  Well,  four  a  day 's  my  allowance.  I  allns 
treats  myself  to  two  after  dinner,  to  help  the 
victuals  down." 

"Four  a  day  will  not  cost  less  than  fifty 
cents  a  week.  Probably  that  will  be  below 
the  real  expense,  but  I  will  reckon  at  that. 
Twenty-six  dollars  a  year,  in  twenty  years,  will 
amount  to  five  hundred  and  twenty  dollars. 
Add  this  to  the  pipe  consumption,  twenty 
years  before,  and  the  chewing,  and  we  can  not 
make  it  less  than  seven  hundred  dollars 
smoked  and  spit  away.  Mr.  Gooch,  you  have, 
perhaps,  never  thought  that  you  have  thus 
absolutely  thrown  away  a  valuable  farm,  or 
even  more  than  one  sufficiently  large  for  your 
son  to  begin  business  on." 

Miss  More  paused.  The  chimney  of  the 
little  white  cottage  was  just  coming  in  sight 
behind  the  hill,  and  in  another  moment  a 
vigorous  "whoa"  brought  old  Billy  to  a  stand- 
still at  the  gate. 

"  You're  a  cute  one,"  said  the  deacon,  as  he 
handed  the  hitherto  despised  schoolmistress 
out  from  the  buffalo  robes,  seemingly  a 
good  deal  larger  than  when  she  stepped  in. 
"You've  shut  me  up.  No  woman  ever  did 
it  before." 


158  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

It  was  a  rough  but  hearty  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  potency  of  her  words  and  argu- 
ments. We  may  hope  the  profound  impres- 
sion made  on  the  deacon's  mind  will  be 
enduring  and  salutary. 


HOW   TO   MAKE   MONEY.  159 

CHAPTER  XX. 

HOW  TO  MAKE  MONEY. 

FOLLOWING  up  the  train  of  thought  which 
she  had  started  in  her  conversation  with 
Deacon  Gooch,  Miss  More  "decided  that  the 
economic  view  of  the  tobacco  question  should 
engross  her  next  lecture.  And  believing  that 
this  would  be  with  some  of  her  pupils  the 
most  influential  consideration,  she  gave  notice 
in  school  of  the  particular  manner  in  which 
she  would  treat  the  subject,  and  invited  all  the 
boys,  particularly  the  older  ones,  to  be  present. 

"I  know  that  all  of  you,  boys,"  she  said, 
"  will  be  interested  sooner  or  later  in  the  art 
of  making  money,  and  if  you  will  remain  at 
the  next  lecture,  I  will  let  you  into  a  very 
important  secret  about  it."  She  was  grati- 
fied to  see  Gooch,  Perkins,  and  several  of 
the  others  who  had  persisted  in  holding  back 
from  the  enterprise,  in  their  respective  places 
on  this  occasion,  eager  listeners  to  what  she 
might  have  to  say. 

"  The  art  of  making  money  lies  mainly  in 
knowing  how  to  save  it.  The  saying  of  Frank- 


160  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

lin,  c  A  penny  saved  is  a  penny  earned,'  Las 
proved  the  solid  foundation  of  many  a  large 
fortune.  Saving  may  be  carried  to  the  ex- 
treme of  miserly  penuriousness,  and  result  only 
in  misery ;  but  directed  by  wise  motives  and  a 
proper  discretion,  it  puts  in  our  hands  the 
means  of  self-improvement  and  elevation,  and 
makes  us  mediums  of  great  usefulness  to  our 
fellow-creatures.  It  is,  therefore,  quite  proper 
that  we  all,  and  especially  you  who  are  in  the 
very  beginning  of  life,  should  look  into  this 
matter  carefully,  and  learn  how  we  may  be 
truly  economical  and  prudent.  To  spend 
money  for  what  is  really  beneficial  to  us  is 
right ;  to  minister  by  it  only  to  some  animal 
appetite  is  foolish  ;  to  use  it  for  what  is  posi- 
tively injurious  is  worse  than  folly  —  it  is  sin. 

"  The  loss  of  money  to  the  individual  is 
but  a  fraction  of  the  waste  involved  in  the 
consumption  of  tobacco.  Every  thing  valua- 
ble is  sacrificed  to  it ;  and  before  I  come  to 
the  calculation  of  individual  expense,  I  want 
to  lay  before  you  some  items  of  more  general 
consideration. 

"  In  the  first  place,  we  may  look  at  the 
waste  of  human  life.  In  the  United  States 
the  direct  loss  of  life  from  tobacco  is  esti- 
mated to  be  m  any  hundred  every  year.  When 


HOW    TO    MAKE    MONET.  161 

we  consider  the  loss  of  labor,  of  property,  of 
intellectual  resources,  and  of  moral  power  in- 
volved in  this  loss  of  life,  this  fact  becomes 
truly  appalling.  Add  to  this  the  loss  of  time 
and  money  caused  by  the  prolonged  ill  health 
of  multitudes  more,  the  poverty  and  suffering 
inflicted  upon  innocent  relatives  and  friends, 
and  the  evil  can  scarcely  be  computed.  The 
pauper  tax  alone  in  this  country  caused  by 
the  use  of  tobacco  is  said  to  be  three  millions 
of  dollars  a  year ! 

"  It  includes  a  great  waste  of  valuable  land 
and  labor.  The  consumption  of  tobacco,  in 
this  country  alone,  requires  five  and  a  half 
million  acres  of  the  richest  land  to  be  kept 
constantly  under  its  cultivation.  If  this  im- 
mense area  of  land  were  devoted  to  the  rais- 
ing of  corn,  wheat,  cotton,  flax,  and  other 
useful  products  of  the  soil,  would  so  many  of 
the  inhabitants  of  this  world  be  left  to  suffer 
in  hunger  and  rags  ?  The  soil  used  for  its 
growth,  moreover,  soon  becomes  worn  out, 
and  in  some  of  our  states,  large  districts  of 
deserted  wilderness  are  seen  where  formerly 
tobacco  plantations  flourished  —  now  good  for 
nothing.  In  regard  to  the  labor  expended  in 
this  infamous  service  -ni  in  1840,  one  tenth  of 
the  entire  population  of  the  United  States 
11 


162  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

•were  engaged  in  raising  and  manufacturing 
tobacco.  And  this  number,  on  account  of  the 
increasing  demand  for  the  article,  is  every 
year  growing  larger  and  larger.  Besides  all 
this  waste,  many  large  conflagrations,  destroy- 
ing millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  property, 
have  been  caused  by  carelessness  in  the  use 
of  pipes  and  cigars.  All  this  must  be  brought 
in  to  swell  the  amount  of  waste  of  property 
from  this  one  bad  habit. 

"  The  waste  of  time,  especially  in  taking 
snuff",  is  not  to  be  overlooked.  It  may  amuse 
you  to  listen  to  the  calculation  of  the  Earl  of 
Stanhope.  *  Every  professed  snuff-taker,  at 
a  moderate  computation,  takes"  one  pinch  in 
every  ten  minutes.  Every  pinch,  with  the 
agreeable  ceremony  of  blowing  and  wiping 
the  nose,  and  other  incidental  circumstances, 
consumes  a  minute  and  a  half.  One  minute 
and  a  half  out  of  eveiy  ten,  allowing  sixteen 
hours  to  a  snuff-taker's  day,  amounts  to  two 
hours  and  twenty-four  minutes  out  of  every 
day,  or  one  day  out  of  ten.  One  day  out  of 
ten  amounts  to  thirty-six  and  a  half  days  in 
the  year.  Hence,  if  we  suppose  the  practice 
of  forty  years'  standing,  two  entire  years  of 
the  snuff-taker's  life  will  be  dedicated  to  tic- 
kling his  nose,  and  two  more  to  blowing  it. 


HOW    TO   MAKE    MOXEY.  163 

The  expense  of  snuff,  boxes,  and  extra  hand- 
kerchiefs, is  another  consideration,  showing  aa 
great  an  encroachment  on  his  means  as  his 
time.  The  time  and  money  lost  to  society, 
if  properly  applied,  would  furnish  a  fund  suf- 
ficient to  defray  England's  national  debt.' 

"  The  actual  loss  in  money  it  is  difficult  to 
realize,  on  account  of  its  magnitude.  In  the 
United  States  it  is  said  to  be  thirty  millions 
of  dollars  annually,  making  an  average  of  one 
dollar  and  forty  cents  to  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  in  the  country.  The  expense  of 
the  practice  to  individuals  will  be  more  easily 
comprehended  by  you,  and  I  wish  you  to  pay 
particular  attention  to  the  figures.  It  is  a 
very  moderate  cigar-smoker  who  spends  only 
six  cents  a  day ;  yet  that  sum,  put  to  com- 
pound interest,  would  in  thirty  years  amount 
to  more  than  three  thousand  dollars  —  and 
this  for  a  single  person !  How  much  good 
this  sum  of  money  would  do,  if  properly  ap- 
plied! But  there  are  multitudes  who  spend 
double  that  sum.  Many  spend  twenty-five 
or  even  fifty  cents  a  day  in  tobacco.  The 
students  in  some  of  our  colleges  pay  annually 
from  six  to  eight  thousand  dollars  for  this  vile 
luxury.  The  cigar  bill  of  many  a  clerk  ex 
cceds  his  board  bill.  The  hard-working  ma» 


104  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

who  thinks  he  can  not  furnish  the  means  of 
education  to  his  children,  and  the  Christian 
of  small  income  who  declines  aiding  in  a  pro- 
posed charity,  will  each  spend  thirty,  fifty,  or 
a  hundred  dollars  a  year  for  tobacco.  The 
thirty  millions  of  dollars,  which  is  considered 
a  low  estimate  of  the  annual  loss  to  this 
country  through  the  use  of  tobacco,  would 
provide  every  district  in  the  land  with  a  free 
school,  every  hamlet  with  a  free  church,  and 
every  pauper  with  a  good  home.  Think  of  it ! 
If  appropriated  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel,  it 
would  carry  the  glad  news  of  salvation  and 
the  elevating  influences  of  civilization  to  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  globe.  What  a  weight 
of  guilt  and  responsibility  lies,  then,  at  the 
door  of  all  who  are  addicted  to  this  habit, 
and  especially  of  Christians  who  are  slaves  to 
such  a  wicked  and  expensive  appetite ! 

"  Save  the  money,  then,  boys,  that  you  may 
be  tempted  to  use  for  tobacco.  Save  it  for 
your  own  improvement,  and  for  the  good  of 
your  fellow-creatures.  The  wealth  you  will 
thus  accumulate  will  not  merely  be  that  of 
dollars  and  cents,  but  soundness  of  body,  ac- 
tivity of  mind,  nobleness  of  heart,  solidity  of 
principle,  powers  and  facilities  of  usefulness, 


HOW    TO   MAKE    MONEY.  1\).J 

and  eternal  happiness  —  the  true  riches,  un- 
counted and  enduring." 

"  Mr.  Rugg,  over  the  creek,  told  father,  the 
other  day,  that  he  couldn't  afford  to  take  a 
newspaper;  and  he  smokes  the  whole  con- 
tinual time,"  was  the  comment  of  Josiah 
Clark,  as  he  passed  out  of  the  school  room 
that  afternoon. 

"  He's  always  borrowing  ours,"  added  Mar- 
cus. "  He'd  better  save  his  cents,  I  think." 

"And  his  senses  too,"  remarked  Sidney, 
"  If  he  don't  mind,  they'll  go  before  long." 


166  THE    WESTER    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTEE  XXI. 

THE  WORKING  LEAYEX. 

DEACON  GOOCH  meditated  profoundly  on 
the  problem  which  his  juvenile  instructor  had 
demonstrated  to  him.  But  he  was  equally 
profound  in  his  silence  upon  the  subject, 
though  that  conversation  and  the  subsequent 
week's  lecture  were  familiarly  discussed  and 
commented  upon  in  the  family.  The  fact  was, 
he  was  placed  in  very  embarrassing  circum- 
stances. How  could  he,  the  head  of  the  fam- 
ily, a  man  of  such  sagacity,  the  oracle  of  his 
domestic  circle,  where  an  opinion  was  never 
allowed  free  ventilation  unless  it  had  received 
its  origin  and  imprint  from  himself,  —  how 
could  he  stand  up  before  his  family  and  ac- 
knowledge himself  in  error  ?  Besides,  appe- 
tite stood  in  his  way.  He  had  no  idea  of 
relinquishing  his  favorite  indulgence  —  oh,  no! 
There  were  reasons  enough  in  favor  of  his 
holding  on  to  his  quid  and  his  cigar.  To  be 
sure,  vague  suspicions  were  now  continually 
floating  in  his  mind  that  it  was  the  poison 
that  lurked  in  the  sweet  morsel  which  caused 


THE   WOKKING  LEAVEN.  167 

all  the  disagreeable  and  growing  ailments  of 
which  he  found  himself  the  victim.  But  he 
was  an  old  man,  and  the  dear  solace  of  his 
weary  hours  could  not  be  given  up.  The 
pecuniary  considerations  moved  him ;  but  he 
had  lost  more  that  way  than  he  ever  should 
again,  and  it  was  too  late  now  to  help  that. 
He  could,  however,  compromise  the  matter 
with  his  conscience.  He  would  use  his  en- 
deavors to  prevent  his  son  from  following  in 
his  footsteps.  "All  lie  can  save  that  way  will 
be  clear  gain,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  and  if  there 
is  any  truth  about  its  spilin'  the  health,  why, 
he'll  save  that  too." 

So,  on  Sunday  evening,  after  tea,  having 
ruminated  on  the  subject  for  ten  days,  the 
deacon  spoke. 

"  Bill,"  said  he,  "  I've  been  a-dwellin',  ever 
sence  that  day  we  druv  the  schoolma'am  hum, 
on  what  she  said  about  tobacker." 

The  deacon  paused. 

"Well,"  said  Bill. 

"I  think  I'm  beginnin'  to  git  a  realizin 
sense  of  what  a  wasteful-like  job  it  is  to 
smoke  and  chaw  so  long  as  I  have.  'Tis  a 
fact,  it  costs  orful." 

He  paused  again. 

"Well,"  says  Bill. 


168  THE    WINTER   SCHOOL. 

"Jest  think,  now,  of  seven  hundred  dollars 
used  up  and  thrown  away." 

"Nor  that  ain't  all,  neither,"  said  Bill,  aided 
in  his  arithmetic  by  the  computations  of  Miss 
JVlore's  last  lecture.  "If  you  had  put  that 
tobacco  money  out  at  interest,  year  by  year, 
'twould  have  come  to  as  much  as  five  thou- 
sand dollars  by  this  time." 

This  was  a  new  view  of  the  subject,  and 
the  deacon  opened  his  eyes. 

"It  can't  be  helped  now,"  said  he ;  "it's  too 
late.  But  I'll  tell  ye  now,  Bill,  what  I've 
thought  on." 

"Well,  what  is  it?"  asked  Bill. 

"  I've  thought  if  you,  now,  for  instance,  now 
you're  young,  and  in  your  prime,  leaves  off 
usin'  the  stuff,  I'll  jest  give  ye  all  ye  save  till 
ye're  free." 

"  Principal  and  interest  too  ?  "  inquired  the 
sagacious  Bill. 

"  Ye  see  I  has  to  fisd  it  now,  and  'twon't 
cost  any  more  in  the  long  run  ;  and  if  I  give 
it  to  ye  all  together,  why,  then  you'll  have 
suthin'  to  start  with.  You're  seventeen  years 
old  now,  and  'twill  be  four  years  'fore  you're 
free.  Four  years — now  reckon  up  your  cigars, 
and  see  how  much  'twill  come  to." 

u  'Twon't  be  much,"  said  Bill,  in  a  disap- 


THE  WORKING   LEAVEN.  169 

pointed  tone.'  "  I  don't  smoke  four  or  five  a 
day,  as  you  do." 

"  Pooty  nigh  on  to  it,  I  guess." 

"  No,  sir ;  I  don't  get  more  than  two,  any 
how ;  and  that  ain't  nothing." 

"Wouldn't  be  worth  saving,  eh?  Well, 
count  it  three,  now.  I  guess  it's  that  in  the 
gin  era!  average." 

"That  would  only  be  twenty-two  dollars, 
even  money." 

"Well,  every  little  helps;  that's,  let  me 
see,  —  that's  eighty-eight  dollars,  in  all." 

"I  can  do  better  than  that,"  said  Bill,  with 
a  brightening  face.  "  You  give  it  to  rne  every 
year,  and  I'll  get  a  six  per  cent,  added  to  it. 
I  tell  ye,  'twill  pay." 

"  Well,  I've  got  no  'jection  to  that.  Then, 
seein'  you've  been  sech  a  good  boy,  like,  this 
winter,  I'll  begin  when  school  leaves  off,  and 
I'll  pay  you  for  work  round  the  farm  jest  as  I 
pays  Israel  Jones.  That  '11  add  a  neat  little 
sum  to  it." 

"  Agreed,"  says  Bill.  "  But  now  I'll  tell  ye, 
father. "  If  you'd  quit  smoking  too,  —  " 

"  Oh,  my  boy,  I  can't,  —  can't  do  no  sech 
thing,  —  'twould  rack  my  constitution  orful  to 
'tempt  it." 

"Better  try." 


170  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"  'Tisn't  possible,  Bill.  I'm  an  old  man,  ye 
see,  and  past  my  prime.  'Twouldn't  do,  I'm 
persuaded." 

The  entrance  of  farmer  Jones  put  an  end 
to  the  conversation  ;  but  Bill  appeared  pretty 
well  satisfied  with  his  bargain,  and  rubbed 
his  hands  over  it  in  great  glee  as  he  re- 
hearsed the  matter  to  Hannah,  in  the  course 
of  the  evening. 

"  I'll  sign  to-morrow,"  said  he,  —  "  see  if  I 
don't ;  and  make  money  out  of  it  too.  That's 
what  I  call  a  strike,  old  girl;"  and  he  gave 
Hannah  a  very  unceremonious  twirl  to  the 
further  side  of  the  big  chimney  place. 

"  You  should  do  it  because  it's  right,  Bill," 
said  she,  "  not  for  the  sake  of  the  money. 
That  would  be  a  great  deal  better,  I'm  sure." 

"  Can't  afford  to  do  right  for  nothing,  when 
I  have  to  do  with  the  old  man,"  said  the  un- 
dutiful  youth.  "  Should  come  out  of  the  little 
end  of  the  horn  if  I  did." 

That  week  the  hearts  of  Tristram  and  Sid- 
ney were  made  glad  by  the  addition  of  the 
names  William  Henry  Gooch  and  'Samuel 
Hildreth  Perkins,  in  broad,  round  hand  to  the 
list  of  members  of  the  Campfield  Boys'  Anti- 
Tobacco  Society. 


A  FOE   TO   TRUE   MANHOOD.  171 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

A  FOE  TO  TRUE  MANHOOD. 

SAID  Miss  More  at  the  fifth  meeting  of  the 
society,  — 

"I  have  already  set  before  you,  my  dear 
pupils,  the  effects  of  tobacco  upon  a  man's 
health  and  his  purse ;  but  we  have  not  yet  con- 
sidered all  its  bearings  upon  himself.  For  a 
man  is  not  to  be  measured  by  his  physical 
condition  or  his  external  circumstances.  True 
manhood  consists  in  character,  in  the  position 
of  the  individual  toward  the  future  and  eter- 
nal. A  man  is  a  man  according  as  he  fulfills 
the  great  end  of  his  being,  which  is  to  grow 
out  of  the  low,  carnal,  and  earthly,  into  the 
spiritual  and  holy  —  into  likeness  to  God  his 
Creator.  Now,  it  is  proved  beyond  a  doubt, 
that  this  practice  which  we  are  considering 
debases  the  man  ;  holds  him  down  from  this 
upward  growth,  hinders  the  development  of 
the  spirit,  chains  him  to  the  sensuous  by  a 
mean  and  perverted  appetite.  We  have  seen 
how  the  use  of  tobacco  in  every  form  affects 
the  senses.  The  eye  is  dimmed,  the  ear  ob- 


f7'2  THE   WINTER    SCHOOL. 

structed,  the  smell  deadened,  the  taste  par- 
alyzed.  Must  not  the  mind,  therefore,  to  which. 
these  senses  are  the  avenues,  suffer  correspond- 
ingly ?  It  can  not  be  otherwise.  Professor 
Hitchcock  says,  —  and  his  testimony  is  sup- 
ported by  many  eminent  men,  — '  It  tends  di- 
rectly to  debilitate  the  organs  of  the  intellect ; 
and  we  can  not  take  a  more  effectual  course  to 
cloud  the  understanding,  weaken  the  memory, 
unfix  the  attention,  and  confuse  all  the  mental 
operations,  than  by  entailing  on  ourselves  the 
whole  hateful  train  of  maladies  which  spring 
from  the  use  of  tobacco.  It  may  seem  to 
soothe  the  feelings,  and  for  a  time  to  quicken 
the  operations  of  the  mind;  but  to  what  pur- 
pose is  it  that  the  machine  is  furiously  run- 
ning and  buzzing  after  the  balance  wheel  is 
taken  off?' 

"  The  use  of  this  poison  in  our  schools  and 
colleges  is  very  common,  but  teachers  are 
waking  up  to  the  enormous  evil  and  providing 
against  it.  It  would  be  a  desirable  thing  if 
teachers  and  professors  would  unite  to  forbid 
the  use  of  tobacco  in  the  institutions  under 
their  charge.  The  fatal  effect  now  showing 
itself  in  the  check  of  physical  growth  and  the 
enfeeblement  of  intellectual  faculties  would 
in  this  way  be  effectually  prevented. 


A  FOE    TO    TRUE    MANHOOD.  173 

"The  use  of  tobacco  spoils  the  disposition. 
It  is  asserted  by  those  who  have  had  oppor- 
tunities of  observation,  that  tobacco-users  are 
universally  irritable  in  temper.  'They  are 
snappish  to  their  wives,  churlish  to  their 
children,  and  cross  to  every  body  and  every 
thing.'  Another  writer  says,  'Tobacco  pro- 
duces a  perpetual  souring  of  the  temper,  a 
cross-grained,  ill-natured,  repelling,  or  depraved 
state  of  combativeness.'  Horace  Greeley  says, 
'  Chewing  and  smoking  tend  directly  to  black- 
guardism.' We  may  all  testify  from  our  own 
observation  that  it  produces  bad  manners,  and 
leads  to  badness  of  heart. 

"Impurity  of  morals  is  one  of  the  most 
obvious  effects  of  this  practice.  If,  as  Jeremy 
Taylor,  declares,  '  cleanliness  is  next  to  godli- 
ness,' then  the  very  filthiness  to  which  the 
use  of  this  weed  unavoidably  leads  must  needs 
tend  to  a  correspondingly  impure  state  of  the 
heart.  Fowler  says,  'The  constitutional  effect 
of  tobacco  is  to  pervert  and  vitiate  the  entire 
being,  from  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the  sole 
of  the  foot,  in  all  the  ramifications  of  mind 
and  functions  of  body.'  From  this  vitiated 
state  of  body  and  mind,  it  can  be  but  a  short 
step  to  outwardly  dissipated  and  wicked 
courses.  And  if  you  will  look  around,  you 


174  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

will  see  for  yourselves  that  this  is  true.  How 
many  tobacco-users  are  intemperate,  vicious, 
and  dissolute ! 

"  This  practice  is  very  inconsistent  with  re- 
ligion. How  can  a  true,  living  Christian  be  a 
slave  to  any  appetite,  and  particularly  to  one 
so  disgusting,  so  degrading,  so  thoroughly 
evil  as  this  ?  And  what  can  be  more  incon- 
sistent than  for  a  man,  whose  business  it  is  to 
preach  purity,  to  be  himself  the  victim  of  so 
dirty  a  habit  ?  One  of  their  own  number  has 
boldly  said,  'If  there  ever  was  a  weed  whose 
roots  went  down  till  they  drew  sap  from  be- 
low, it  is  tobacco.  And  a  snuffing,  smoking, 
chewing,  spitting  minister  is  not  fit  to  stand 
in  ordinary  congregations,  or  to  live  in  ordi- 
nary families.'  Some  of  you  may  one  day 
stand  in  the  sacred  desk.  If  you  do,  seek  to 
purge  out  from  yourselves  every  impure  habit, 
that  you  may  be  examples  to  your  flock  of 
all  you  teach. 

"  Our  remarks,  if  carried  out  to  an  extreme, 
would  seem  to  imply  that  no  one  who  used 
tobacco  in  any  form  could  have  any  preten- 
sions to  be  a  gentleman  or  a  Christian.  Of 
course  you  will  understand  that  there  are 
various  degrees  of  devotion  to  the  habit,  and 
that  those  who  are  addicted  to  it  start  from 


A  FOE    TO    TRUE   MANHOOD.  175 

various  and  widely  differing  points  o*  refine  - 
ment.  But  I  want  you  to  know  and  feel  that 
the  tendency  of  the  habit  is  Decidedly  down- 
ward. It  deteriorates  the  whole  being.  It 
prevents  the  development  of  the  lofty  and 
noble  within,  and  facilitates  the  growth  of 
evil  and  impurity.  No  one,  however  strong- 
minded,  however  pure,  however  upheld  by 
the  restraints  of  genteel  and  refined  society, 
of  domestic  associations,  elevated  tastes,  or 
professional  position,  but  suffers  from  it.  And 
who  can  think  of  it  for  one  moment  in  con- 
nection with  the  purities  and  celestial  refine- 
ments of  our  immortal  existence,  without  a 
shock  ?  If  our  principles  and  habits  here  have 
an  intimate  bearing  upon  our  condition  in  the 
other  and  eternal  life,  as  we  believe  they 
do,  into  what  affinities  of  those  upper  circles 
can  we  imagine  a  tobacco-loving  minister,  or 
Christian,  to  be  finally  introduced.  He  who 
hath  within  him  the  hope  of  heaven,  of  being 
like  Christ^  when  he  '  shall  see  him  as  he  is,' 
must  follow  the  recommendation  of  the  apos- 
tle, and  « purify  himself  even  as  He  is  pure.' " 


176  THE    "WINTER.    SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

CHARLIE  MERRILL. 

IN  a  distant  district  of  the  large  out-spread- 
ing town  of  Campfield  rose  the  costly  and 
splendid  mansion  of  Captain  Azariah  Merrill. 
Where  the  sweet  pine  woods  shed  their  de- 
licious and  healthful  fragrance  through  all  the 
air,  and  by  their  dense  growth  sheltered  the 
atmosphere  from  the  searching  sea  fogs  which 
prevailed  at  certain  seasons  near  the  shore, 
this  charming  spot  had  been  scooped  out 
from  the  forest,  —  a  fancy  lodge  in  the  vast 
wilderness,  the  owner  said,  —  and  arranged 
with  all  the  taste,  and  skill,  and  beauty  its 
eccentric  proprietor  could  command.  It  was, 
indeed,  a  domain  to  be  admired  for  the  sub- 
stantial elegance  of  its  structures,  the  richness 
of  its  landscape,  the  cooling  delights  of  its 
magnificent  groves,  which  considerate  hands 
had  spared  here  and  there  from  the  old  forest 
growth,  and  for  the  abundance  of  every  luxu- 
ry which  modern  culture  could  supply.  The 
simple  country  people  called  it  "the  forrin 
place,"  so  unlike  was  it  to  any  thing  their 


CHARLIE    MEEEILL.  177 

untraveled  eyes  had  ever  beheld.  Indeed, 
it  would  forcibly  remind  the  more  cultivated 
spectator  of  the  superb  English  villas  of  which 
'  he  had  read,  or  perhaps  might  have  seen, 
and  lead  him  to  conclude  that  Captain  Mer- 
rill had  brought  from  his  visits  to  other  climes 
pleasant  and  substantial  memories. 

Captain  Merrill  was  a  proud  man.  In  the 
first  place,  he  prided  himself  on  being  a  Camp- 
field  boy,  "  born  and  bred  in  a  fishing  smack," 
who  had  pushed  his  way,  through  the  pro- 
fession most  in  vogue  in  that  sea-bordering 
and  seafaring  community,  to  wealth  and  dis- 
tinction. In  the  second  place,  upon  the  de- 
lightful home  which  his  money  had  built,  and 
to  which  he  had  retired  for  the  remainder  of 
his  days,  as  far  away,  for  health's  sake,  from 
his  native  element  as  he  could,  without  en- 
tirely forsaking  his  parental  township.  In 
the  third  place,  he  was  proud  of  his  beautiful 
wife,  who  could  not  be  excelled  (in  his  opinion) 
in  the  whole  state  for  personal  charms.  The 
pair  constituted  the  upper  two  of  Campfield, 
there  being  not  enough  of  equal  affluence  and 
position  to  form  an  "  upper  ten,"  in  all  that 
plain,  old-fashioned  town. 

Mrs.  Merrill  was  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Lawrence, 
the  mother  of  the  redoubtable  Jim,  with  whom 
12 


178  THE  AVIXTI:K  SCHOOL. 

the  reader  is  already  slightly  acquainted* 
The  two  sisters,  by  reason  of  the  differing 
successes  of  their  husbands,  had  become 
quite  removed  from  one  another  in  point  of 
worldly  means  and  social  consideration.  Still 
they  preserved  for  each  other  much  of  the  old 
sisterly  love,  and  their  families  freely  associ- 
ated. There  was,  it  is  true,  a  little  "feeling" 
between  them  on  some  points.  Mrs.  Law- 
rence imagined  that  Lucy  had  grown  rather 
"  stuck  up  "  within  the  last  ten  years,  and  there 
was  no  accounting  for  the  strange  notions  she 
had  got  into  her- head  about  her  house  and 
children.  Mrs.  Merrill  contended  that  as  long 
as  her  ideas  were  her  own,  and  she  had  means 
to  carry  them  out,  no  one  need  to  interfere, 
and  that,  if  Ann  were  situated  as  she  was,  she 
would  probably  think  and  do  very  much  the 
same.  Xo  doubt  they  were  both  right  in  a 
degree ;  but  in  one  thing  they  both  acted  like 
good-hearted,  sensible  Yankee  women  —  they 
did  not  suffer  these  little  antagonisms  to  hin- 
der the  pleasant  flow  of  family  affection.  They 
were  scrupulous  in  keeping  up  the  visits  of 
the  two  households,  making  it  a  rule,  from 
which  neither  had  deviated  for  years,  to  take 
tea  with  each  other  every  week.  Thursday 
was  the  day  appointed  for  the  meeting,  with 


CHARLIE    MERRILL.  179 

the  understanding  that,  if  the  weather  was 
unsuitable,  it  should  be  postponed  to  the  first 
fair  day  thereafter.  Had  it  not  been  for  this 
prescribed  form,  rigidly  observed,  their  widely- 
divergent  circumstances  would  have  resulted 
iu  a  gradual  estrangement  of  the  two  sisters 
and  their  children. 

This  visit  served  another  excellent  pur- 
pose. The  rubbing  together  of  their  individ- 
ual thoughts  and  feelings,  and  the  preserving 
meanwhile  of  an  amicable  spirit,  did  them  both 
a  positive  good.  Though  there  might  have 
been  a  little  condescension  on  the  one  side, 
and  a  shadow  of  envy  on  the  other,  this 
weekly  attrition  burnished  their  ideas,  giving 
them  definite  shape  and  purpose,  and  led  each 
one  to  define  her  position  in  sentiment  and 
opinion  more  clearly  than  she  would  other- 
wise have  done.  Thus  the  standard  of  char- 
acter grew  more  positive  and  correct  in  both, 
as  in  many  respects  they  modified  and  moder- 
ated the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  each  other. 

One  of  the  peculiar  notions  of  Mrs.  Merrill, 
which  met  with  the  decided  disapprobation 
of  her  sister,  was  her  antipathy  to  district 
schools.  Not  in  the  general,  but  in  the  par- 
ticular. Not  for  others ;  oh,  no.  They  were 
the  wisest  and  best  of  institutions ;  for  how 


180  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

else  could  the  "masses"  be  educated?  But 
for  her  own  children  she  preferred  sele<j£ 
schools,  the  Academy  at  Sampville,  the  Fe- 
male Seminary  at  Great  Plains,  or  kindred 
institutions.  Mrs.  Lawrence  called  this  pride ; 
Mrs.  Merrill,  prudence.  Mrs.  Lawrence  con- 
sidered it  an  offensive  ambition ;  Mrs.  Mer- 
rill contended  it  was  only  a  propriety  of 
their  superior  worldly  position.  In  accordance 
with  this  idea,  Sarah  and  Lucy  Merrill  were 
every  day  transported  to  the  before-mentioned 
Academy,  for  the  development  of  their  men- 
tal faculties;  and  Charles,  the  only  son  of  the 
household,  was  in  a  family  boarding  school  at 
Lee's  Point. 

It  happened,  as  the  ladies  sat  together  in 
Mrs.  Merrill's  elegant  sitting  room,  one  Feb- 
ruary afternoon,  that  their  conversation  turned 
upon  the  anti-tobacco  mania  at  the  central 
district. 

"You  never  saw  such  a  fuss  as  they  are 
making  down  there  at  the  Corner,"  said  Mrs. 
Lawrence.  "Every  body  is  talking  about 
tobacco,  and  the  boys  and  girls  that  go  there 
to  school  can't  think  of  any  thing  else.  Wher- 
ever you  go,  to  church,  or  sewing  society,  or 
visiting,  it's  the  one  thing  —  tobacco.  Why, 
if  there  was  half  as  much  stirring-up  on  re- 


CHARLIE    MERRILL.  181 

ligion,  they'd  say  we  had  a  revival.     .7"  call  it 
the  tobacco-revival." 

"But  you  approve  it,  sister,  of  course." 
"  Well,  I  don't  know.  I  can't  see  the  use 
of  making  such  a  fuss  about  any  thing.  I'm 
sure  I  don't  see  the  harm  of  smoking  and 
chewing  in  a  moderate  degree.  If  folks  go 
into  excess  about  it,  why,  of  course  'twould  be 
wrong  —  extremes  are  always  bad.  But  every 
body  uses  tobacco ;  and  what's  the  use  of  try- 
ing to  put  down  what  every  body  likes,  and 
every  body  will  have?  Besides,  I  can't  see 
that  it  injures  people  so  much  as  they  seem 
to  represent  it  down  there." 

"I  don't  think  any  thing  can  be  worse,  sister, 
excepting  ardent  spirits.  I  am  perfectly  con- 
vinced that  it  is  productive  of  the  greatest  part 
of  the  diseases  from  which  people  are  suffer- 
ing. Think  what  abstinence  from  tobacco 
has  done  for  my  husband.  Why,  nights  and 
nights,  for  years,  the  captain  spent  in  his  chair, 
unable  to  lie  down  for  that  terrible  phthisic ; 
and  yet  he  kept  on  smoking  and  chewing,  — - 
you  know  seafaring  people  are  always  given 
more  or  less  to  the  habit,  —  until  a  doctor  we 
met  down  in  Bath,  told  him  to  give  up  to- 
bacco. 'I  can't,  no  way,'  says  the  captain. 
'  It's  meat  and  drink,  heat  and  cold,  business 


182  THE    WIXTEB   SCHOOL. 

and  sleep  to  me.'  'And  'twill  be  death,  be- 
fore long,  if  you  keep  on,'  said  the  doctor ; 
'  so  you  can  have  your  choice.'  It  was  very 
hard  to  give  it  up,  but  the  captain  is  equal  to 
any  thing  he  undertakes;  and  he  conquered 
the  appetite  to  his  entire  satisfaction,  and  his 
health  canie  up  as  the  appetite  went  down. 
He's  just  as  well  now  as  any  body,  and  his 
old  complaints  never  trouble  him,  excepting 
when  he  takes  cold.  Now  that  we  know  how 
many  evils  arise  from  the  use  of  tobacco,  we 
set  our  faces  against  it.  I  wouldn't  have  a 
child  use  it  for  the  world." 

Mrs.  Lawrence  smiled  suspiciously. 

"  Charlie  never  smokes,  I  suppose,"  said 
she. 

"  Charlie  ?  Why,  I'd  as  soon  think  of 
smoking  myself,  or  buying  cigars  for  Sarah 
and  Lucy." 

"  Boys  get  into  such  ways,  sometimes,  with- 
out their  mothers'  knowing  it,"  remarked  Mrs. 
Lawrence  —  a  remark  of  which  her  sister 
took  no  notice. 

Why  should  she?  She  had  perfect  con- 
fidence in  her  absent  son.  The  subject  had 
been  so  often  and  thoroughly  canvassed  in 
the  family  since  the  Bath  doctor  had  issued 
his  salutary  prescription  for  the  captain,  that 


CHARLIE   MERRILL.  183 

the  children  all  understood  it  well.  They 
knew  that  their  parents  had  come  to  view  to- 
bacco as  a  poison,  and  that  its  use  would  never 
more  be  tolerated  within  their  sphere.  Be- 
sides this,  Mrs.  Merrill,  with  true  motherly 
fidelity,  had  administered  private  and  par- 
ticular advice  to  her  son  on  the  subject,  and 
begged  of  him,  by  all  that  was  sacred  and  dear 
in  self-respect,  in  the  good  opinion  of  the  truly 
refined,  and  in  the  possession  of  undefiled 
moral  principles,  never  to  touch  the  filthy 
stuff.  No  one  could  have  been  surer  than 
she  of  the  perfect  integrity  of  a  son. 

"Had  a  letter  from  Charlie  to-day,  'ma," 
said  the  captain,  at  the  tea  table.  "  He'll  be 
home  next  week,  Friday.  He  sent  for  money 
to  pay  his  shoe  bill." 

"  Shoe  bill ! "  repeated  the  mother.  "  I'm 
sure  I  thought  he  had  boots  and  shoes  enough 
to  carry  him  through  th<3  quarter." 

"  Ah,  boys  are  great  stavers,"  said  the  cap- 
tain. "  They  don't  feel  .much  concern  for 
their  soles  till  they're  gone,  and  then  they 
must  get  'em  patched  up  somehow;"  and  he 
laughed  at  the  joke  he  had  attempted.  Alas 
for  the  captain's  wit  —  it  was  not  equal  to  his 
good  nature. 

"  J  sent  him  five  dollars,"  he  added,  as  he 


184  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

helped  himself  a  second  time  to  the  fried 
oysters  of  delicate  hue  and  exquisite  relish 
before  him.  "I  suppose  that  will  pay  the 
cobbler.  Wish  the  boy  was  here  this  minute, 
to  help  me  eat  these  shell  fish." 


SHOEMAKER'S  FEN-DINGS.  185 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

SHOEMAKER'S  FINDINGS. 

AT  the,  appointed  time  Charlie  came,  and 
the  week  following,  Mrs.  Lawrence  was  again 
at  her  sister's.  As  the  short,  winter's  after- 
noon closed  in  upon  them,  the  social  party 
drew  together  around  the  glowing  grate,  to 
chat  by  firelight,  while  Sally,  the  very  best 
of  all  Yankee  help,  was  spreading  the  table 
most  invitingly  for  supper.  Suddenly  the 
door  opened,  and  a  stranger  was  ushered  into 
the  apartment. 

"How  d'ye  do,  Captain  Merrill?  Hope  I 
see  you  well,"  said  the  man,  in  a  rough  voice, 
and  advancing,  in  a  bungling  manner,  toward 
the  group. 

"  You  have  the  advantage  of  me1,  sir,"  said 
the  captain,  rising. 

"  Yes,  sir ;  I'm  Duncan,  the  shoemaker  at 
Lee's  Point.  Was  a  friend  of  your  son's,  sir. 
Ah,  there  he  is.  How  d'ye  do,  Master  Mer- 
rill ?  Hope  I  see  you  well,  sir ; "  bowing  fa- 
miliarly. 

Charlie    appeared    embarrassed,  hesitated, 


186  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

hemmed  once  or  twice,  and  finally  corrob- 
orated the  self-introduction  of  the  visitor, 
saying,  — 

"Yes,  father;  the  shoemaker,  Mr.  Duncan." 

"  I  had  a  small  account  to  bring  in,"  said 
the  man,  fumbling  in  his  pocket ;  "  the  balance 
of  Master  Merrill's  bill." 

"  His  bill,  I  thought,  was  paid." 

"  His  shoe  bill ;  yes,  sir.  Didn't  amount 
to  much  —  that  didn't.  But  the  young  gen- 
tleman hadn't  funds  enough  to  pay  the  other, 
and  said  he'd  settle  it  next  quarter.  But  as  I 
happened  to  be  down  to  Campfield  Comer, 
and  money's  allers  'ceptable  to  poor  folks,  I 
made  up  my  mind  I'd  jest  call  on  the  road 
home  and  git  it." 

"  This  bill  is  for  —  what  do  I  understand, 
Mr.  Duncan?" 

"  Cigars,  sir,  cigars.  You  see  there's  no 
place  at  Lee's  Point  where  the  boys  ventur* 
to  go  for  to  git  their  'backer,  'cause  they're 
watched  so  plaguy  close.  So,  as  they  hev  to 
come  to  the  shoemaker's  pooty  often,  they 
jest  3ontrived  it  'mong  theirselves  that  I 
should  keep  a  nice  little  'sortment  of  the  best 
kinds,  so  they  could  be  s'plied  without  the 
master's  knowin'  on  it.  So  that's  the  way  on 
it.  Master  Merrill's  bill  is  a  small  one  —  he 


SHOEMAKER'S  FINDINGS.  187 

uses  it  quite  moderate.  Some  uses  it  orful, 
and  treats  too.  Why,  they  make  nothin'  of 
rumiin'  up  twenty  or  thirty  dollars." 

The  captain  was  astounded.  He  let  the 
man  run  through  his  story  without  an  inter- 
ruption ;  then,  taking  out  his  wallet,  he  paid 
the  eight  dollars  and  thirty-five  cents,  placed 
the  receipted  bill  within  its  folds,  and  opening 
the  door,  shut  it  upon  the  retreating  form  of 
the  shoemaker  without  a  syllable. 

Meantime  the  cheerful  solar  had  been  light- 
ed, and  the  seething  tea  urn  placed  upon  the 
table ;  but  a  shadow  had  fallen  on  the  faces 
which  had  been  just  now  radiant  with  pleas- 
ure. Charlie  had  taken  refuge,  for  the  mo- 
ment, behind  the  newspaper.  He  hardly 
knew  how  to  calculate  upon  the  effects  of 
the  unpleasant  disclosure.  "  I  wish  this  good- 
for-nothing  aunt  of  mine  was  out  of  the  way, 
at  any  rate,"  thought  he ;  "  she'll  crow  so,  and 
go  spreading  it  all  about.  It  does  please  her 
so  to  get  a  little  bit  of  gossip  about  us ! " 

The  captain  was  very  angry  at  what  had 
transpired  —  so  angry  that  he  dared  not  speak. 
He  waited  until  his  passion  was  cooled,  and 
his  heart  had  passed  from  its  feverish  violence 
to  the  mood  of  sorrow ;  and  when  he  spoke, 
it  was  in  tones  of  unusual  tenderness. 


188  THE    WLN'TEE    SCHOOL. 

"  My  son,  I  used  to  smoke.  I  smoked  fcr 
thirty  years,  night  and  day;  even  when  I 
turned  into  my  berth  at  night,  it  would  often 
be  with  a  cigar  in  my  mouth.  But  I  suffered 
for  it,  —  you  know  how,  —  and  now  when  I 
see  the  folly  of  my  ways,  and  warn  my  son 
against  the  evil  consequences  of  such  a  course, 
is  he  going  to  set  aside  the  counsel  of  his  father 
as  nothing  worth  ?  And  above  all,  will  he 
prosecute  his  willful  habits  in  such  a  mean, 
underhand  way  as  this  ?  Bad  as  the  smoking 
is,  Charlie,  it  is  nothing  to  be  compared  with 
lying  and  deception.  Deceiving  your  teach- 
ers, deceiving  your  parents,  who  placed  such 
confidence  in  you  !  Oh,  my  son,  there  is  no 
surer  road  to  ruin  than  this ! " 

The  captain  paused. 

"I  shall  never  do  so  again,  father  —  never," 
said  Charles,  hurriedly.  It  was  all  he  could 
say. 

But  when  he  sat  alone,  face  to  face  with  his 
mother,  and  she,  with  all  her  mother's  love, 
looked  down  into  the  depths  of  his  eyes,  and 
simply  said,  "How  could  you  do  so,  Charlie?" 
then  his  tongue  was  loosed,  and  he  spoke. 

"Mother,"  said  he,  "I  tell  you,  honestly,  I 
couldn't  help  it.  I  didn't  want  to  disobey 
you,  and  I  didn't  like  cigars  —  but  I  couldn't 


SHOEMAKEE'S  FINDINGS.  189 

help  it.  You  see  I'm  so  large,  mother,  that  I 
had  to  go  with  all  the  big  boys.  'Twould 
have  looked  strange  enough  to  see  me,  big 
enough  to  be  a  man,  playing  with  the  little 
boys  that  were  just  my  age,  for  I  passed  for 
seventeen  or  eighteen  years  old.  And  the 
large  boys  all  smoked,  mother —  every  one  of 
them.  At  first  I  didn't ;  I  told  them  I  didn't 
want  to,  and  I  didn't  like  it  well  enough, 
and  all  that.  They  laughed,  and  made  all 
manner  of  fun  of  me,  and  played  jokes  on  me 
ever  so  many  times ;  and  I  couldn't  hold  out. 
I  smoked  for  peace'  sake,  mother,  and  noth- 
ing else  in  the  world.  And  you  see  I  was 
afraid  to  tell  you  and  father,  and  I  felt  real 
bad  about  it  too.  I  ain't  so  wicked  as  you 
and  father  think  I  am,  I  know." 

The  word  passed  round  among  his  cousins, 
and  out  into  the  village  through  the  lips  of 
the  communicative  aunt  Lawrence,  just  as 
Charlie  expected.  There  was  a  little  air  of 
triumph,  too,  in  the  way  the  story  was  first 
told. 

"  So  much,  you  see,  for  family  boarding 
schools,"  said  Mrs.  Lawrence,  "where  the 
boys  are  taken  such  beautiful  care  of,  and 
watched  over  so  splendidly!  I  declare,  it 
isn't  a  fortnight  since  I  told  Lucy  she'd  bet- 


190         THE  "WTNTEB  SCHOOL. 

ter  look  out,  or  Charlie  would  smoke,  like  tho 
rest.  I  did  enjoy  it  so,  when  that  old  clumsy 
shoemaker  came  blundering  into  the  parlor! 
and  I  thought  Charlie  would  sink  right  into 
the  floor  if  he  could.  'Twas  too  good." 

And  whenever  Charlie  appeared,  after  that^ 
at  the  Corner,  he  was  always  greeted  with, 
"  How  d'ye  do,  Master  Merrill  ?  —  shoes  worn 
out?"  "Want  your  boots  mended  to-day,  sir?" 
Hard  on  shoes  —  ain't  you,  Charlie ?  "  "  Shoe- 
maker's bill  grows  large,"  —  or  some  such  rude 
allusion  to  a  most  unwelcome  topic.  What 
could  he  do  ?  He  was  mortified  beyond  ex- 
pression. He  was  not  corrupt  at  heart,  was 
sincerely  sorry  for  his  fault,  and  resolved  never 
again  to  repeat  it ;  but  "  he  didn't  want,"  he 
said,  "to  go  making  confessions  to  all  the 
insolent  boys  of  the  street."  It  became  really 
a  punishment  for  him  to  appear  outside  his 
home. 

One  day  he  screwed  up  his  courage  to  meet 
the  trouble.  He  was  standing  in  the  Post- 
Office  door,  waiting  the  opening  of  the  daily 
mail,  when  the  unfeeling  Jim  Lawrence  shout- 
ed across  the  street,  at  the  top  of  his  voice, — 

"  Hallo,  boots !  What's  the  price  of  new 
soles?"  and  instantly  a  crowd  of  boys  gath- 
ered on  the  spot  —  some  laughing,  some  echo- 


SHOEMAKER'S  FINDINGS.  J91 

ing  the  joke,  and  some  looking,  with  eager 
curiosity,  at  the  object  of  the  fun. 

Charles  walked  boldly  across  the  road,  and 
stood  before  them.  He  was  taller,  though  not 
older,  than  his  cousin  and  most  of  his  com- 
panions, and  as  he  stood  erect,  and  in  a  firm, 
manly  voice  uttered  his  determination,  he  re- 
ally awed  the  group  into  silence  and  respect. 

"  Boys,"  said  he,  "  your  jokes,  I  know,  I 
have  deserved ;  but  they've  grown  old  now, 
and  dry,  and  what's  the  use  of  making  fun  of 
a  fellow  when  he's  done  wrong  ?  I  know  I 
have  done  wrong  —  I  own  up.  But  I  shall 
never  do  that  thing  again.  I've  taken  the 
pledge,  boys,  and  joined  the  Society,  and 
never  will  tobacco  soil  my  lips  again.  So 
now  wind  up  your  jokes,  and  let  me  alone. 
And  you  all  go  with  me  in  this  thing,  and 
you  never  '11  be  sorry  —  I'm  sure  of  that." 

Most  of  the  boys  received  this  speech  with 
loud  cheers.  "  Hurrah  for  Charlie  Merrill !  " 
and,  "Done  with  the  shoemaker!"  were  heard 
on  all  sides ;  but  when  Charlie  turned  round 
to  say  a  private  word  in  the  ear  of  his  cousin, 
the  pale-faced  boy  had  skulked  away,  and  was 
nowhere  to  be  seen. 


192  THE   WINTER   SCHOOL. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

A  FAREWELL  DISCOURSE. 

"  1  SHALL  present  to  you  to-day,  my  dear 
young  friends,"  said  the  indefatigable  teacher, 
"  a  summary  of  the  reasons  why  you  should 
never  use  tobacco  yourselves,  or,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  pledge  you  have  signed,  '  en- 
courage these  filthy  habits  in  any  of  your 
companions,  while  you  belong  to  this  school, 
or  as  long,  as  you  live.7 

" '  Prevention  is  better  than  cure.'  If  I 
were  to  address  an  assembly  to-day  of  those 
who  have  long  been  confirmed  lovers  of  the 
poisonous  weed,  all  the  urgent  motives  and 
strong  arguments  for  their  reform  which  I 
might  bring  forward,  would  probably  fall  pow- 
erless, or  nearly  so,  before  the  gigantic  strength 
of  the  appetite  that  binds  them.  But  I  rejoice 
that  I  am  speaking  to  the  young,  to  those  who 
are  as  yet  untrammeled  by  such  fatal  cords, 
and  I  have  a  hope  that  what  I  shall  say  will 
impress  your  hearts  and  your  consciences, 
and  remain  with  you  for  evermore. 

"I  have  already  in  my  former  lessons  on 


A  FAREWELL   DISCOURSE.  193 

this  subject,  as  I  have  explained  the  poisonous 
nature  of  the  plant,  its  deteriorating  effect 
upon  the  whole  bodily  economy,  on  the  mind, 
the  manners,  and  the  morals,  together  with  its 
useless  waste  of  property,  presented  to  you 
incidentally  many  of  the  most  important  ar- 
guments against  it.  Why  should  you  adopt 
a  habit  so  excessively  filthy  as  this,  making 
yourself  a  disagreeable  companion  wherever 
you  go  ?  Why  should  you  defile  the  ground 
on  which  you  tread  with  your  disgusting  ex- 
pectorations, so  that  none  can  walk  by  your 
side,  or  follow  in  your  steps,  without  contract- 
ing pollution  to  their  garments  ?  What  right 
,  have  you  to  vitiate  the  very  atmosphere,  the 
element  which  God  himself  has  created  as  a 
pure  medium  of  life  and  health  to  all,  by  your 
fetid  breath  ?  By  what  law  of  politeness  and 
etiquette  is  a  person  allowed  to  go  into  the 
dwelling  of  another  to  contaminate  the  air 
and  mar  its  neatness  ?  By  what  law  of  liberty 
and  equal  rights  is  he  permitted  to  make  the 
stage  coach,  the  steamboat,  the  railroad  car, 
unfit  for  the  conveyance  of  the  public  by  his 
indecencies  ?  It  would  seem  that  the  very 
filthiness  of  the  habit  would  restrain  any  well- 
bred  youth  of  respectable  associations  from 
contracting  it. 

13 


194  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

"  And  what  right  have  we  to  expend  tLs 
vitalities  and  energies  of  the  bodies  God  has 
given  us  on  a  mere  sensual  gratification? 
The  suicide  is  execrated  by  mankind  univer- 
sally ;  and  is  it  any  worse  for  a  man  by  a  vio- 
lent and  sudden  blow  to  wrench  away  the 
life  that  God  has  imparted,  than  to  do  it  by  a 
process  of  slow  but  sure  destruction  ? 

"  And  when  we  go  higher  yet,  and  willfully 
demoralize,  pervert,  and  destroy  the  functions 
of  our  spiritual  nature ;  when  we  unfit,  by  vile 
and  wicked  courses,  our  undying  souls  for  the 
employments  and  enjoyments  of  a  future  and 
nobler  state  of  existence ;  when  we  hold  down 
the  spirit  from  its  upward  flights  in  truth  and 
holiness  by  such  base  and  vile  clogs, — ho^ 
shall  we  dare  to  appear  before  our  Creator  ? 
How  shall  we  excuse  ourselves  when  our  holy 
Judge  shall  summon  us  to  account  for  the  tal- 
ents he  has  intrusted  to  our  charge  ?  Oh,  my 
dear  pupils,  when  the  great  Master  endowed 
us  with  faculties  of  body  and  mind,  and  placed 
us  in  a  world  which  needed  every  purifying 
and  renovating  influence  for  its  redemption, 
he  did  not  design  that  we  should  devote  our 
time,  and  money,  and  energies,  to  debasing 
sensual  gratifications.  We  must  give  account 
of  our  stewardship  at  last.  I  hope  it  may  not 


A  FAREWELL  DISCOURSE.  195 

be  said  at  that  final  day  to  any  one  of  you, 
through  the  pursuance  of  these  vile  practices, 
or  from  any  other  cause,  'Depart  from  me,  ye 
unprofitable  servants,  into  outer  darkness.' 

"  But  there  are  two  considerations  which  I 
have  not  yet  enlarged  upon,  that  I  wish  to 
press  upon  your  attention  this  afternoon.  One 
is  the  insidiousness  and  fatal  power  of  this 
habit.  It  comes  upon  a  person  by  slow  de- 
grees—  almost  imperceptibly.  The  first  act 
is,  perhaps,  a  thoughtless  one,  or  done  from 
social  considerations,  or  in  what  is  considered 
a  jovial  mood;  from  vanity,  or  lack  of  moral 
courage;  or  from  various  reasons  which  are 
at  the  time  perfectly  satisfactory ;  and  before 
the  victim  is  aware,  the  fangs  of  the  viper  are 
fastened  upon  him.  No  habit  gains  ground 
more  rapidly,  or  proves  such  a  slavery,  as  this. 
It  holds  its  victims  with  an  iron  grip,  from 
which  very  few  have  the  courage  or  the  will- 
power to  extricate  themselves.  Will  you, 
then,  form  it  ?  Will  you  plant  the  tree  whose 
Upas  shade  will  surely  blight  every  prospect 
and  interest  of  your  being  for  time  and  for 
eternity?  This  tremendous  power  of  the 
habit  constitutes  the  most  important  argu- 
ment against  its  formation.  Stand  aloof,  boys, 
from  its  terrible  grasp,  and  let  it  never  be 


196  THE   WINTER   SCHOOL. 

said  that  you  were  ruined  by  tobacco,  or  that 
your  example  has  led  on  another  fellow-crea- 
ture to  ruin. 

"  The  other  reason  I  would  present  to  you 
more  fully  is  this :  that  the  habit  almost  always 
leads,  sooner  or  later,  to  intemperance.  To- 
bacco, either  chewed  or  smoked,  produces 
thirst,  which  water  or  common  drinks  can  not 
satisfy.  Dr.  Trail  says,  '  The  torpid  and  pal- 
sied mouth  and  throat  incessantly  crave  some- 
thing strong  and  pungent  to  rouse  them  to  a 
state  of  sensibility.'  Was  there  ever  a  bar 
room,  or  grog  shop,  where  the  two  practices, 
smoking  and  drinking,  were  not  going  on  to- 
gether ?  In  Xew  York,  I  have  been  told  that 
the  liquor  stores  and  tobacco  shops  are  alike 
open,  and  have  more  business  on  Sunday  than 
on  any  other  day  of  the  week.  It  is  the  uni- 
form testimony  of  those  who  have  observed 
the  habits  of  the  tobacco-user  closely,  that 
they  are  strongly  allied,  and  very  speedily 
lead,  to  intemperance.  Says  one  distinguished 
physician,  i  It  is  the  most  ready  and  common 
stepping-stone  to  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors.' 
Another  says  the  free  use  of  tobacco  is  'paving 
the  way  to  drunkenness ; '  another,  that  there 
is  a  'close  connection  between  tobacco  and 
stimulating  drinks.'  *  Whoever  uses  tobacco 


A   FAREWELL   DISCOURSE.  197 

will,  sooner  or  later,  come  to  be  fond  of  ex- 
citing drinks.' 

"  Flee,  then,  my  young  friends,  from  a  habit 
which  is  in  itself  so  pernicious,  and  the  pre- 
cursor of  such  fatal  consequences.  « Touch 
not,  taste  not,  handle  not.' 

"  And  if,  in  your  efforts  to  reclaim  others, 
you  should  be  met  by  the  hopeless  assertion, 
'  It  is  too  late ;  we  can  not  throw  off  so  strong 
a  habit,'  do  all  you  can  to  encourage  hope ; 
and  stimulate  exertion  in  the  right  direction. 
It  is  a  difficult  habit  to  cure,  but  it  can  be 
done.  The  idea  that  the  sudden  cessation  of 
the  practice  will  prove  injurious  is  a  false  one. 
Criminals  who  have  been  arrested  and  placed 
where  they  could  not  get  it  have  never  suf- 
fered in  consequence.  Even  old  men  who 
are  sent  to  our  prisons  and  houses  of  correc- 
tion, and  thus  obliged  to  give  up  tobacco 
suddenly,  have  never  experienced  bad  conse- 
quences from  it.  Indeed,  they  improve  in  ap- 
pearance, and  have  better  health,  without  it. 

"  But  one  who  wishes  to  reform  must  not 
think  of  defeat.  With  a  strong  will,  and  a 
constant  reliance  on  divine  Power  for  help, 
we  can  resist  the  strongest  influences  to  evil, 
and  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  most  imperi- 
ous foe.  And  we  are  sure  that  resisting 


198  THE   WINTER    SCHOOL. 

evil,  overcoming  sm,  throwing  off  the  bon- 
dage of  Satan,  can  never  lead  to  injurious 
effects.  When  time  has  been  given  for  the 
forces  of  the  system  which  wrong  courses 
have  enfeebled  to  rally,  they  will  recuperate 
and  afterward  sustain  themselves  in  strength 
and  nobleness.  Obedience  to  the  laws  of  na- 
ture brings  in  its  train  good  of  every  form 
and  nature." 


WHAT  BECAME   OF   THEM.  .199 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

WHAT  BECAME  OF  THEM. 

THE  winter  school  had  come  to  its  closing 
day.  The  administration  of  the  female  teach- 
er was  pronounced  a  decided  success.  The 
rod,  for -the  first  time,  had  been  entirely  ig- 
nored, and  moral  suasion  had  taken  its  place. 
Motives  of  honor,  affection,  and  conscience 
had  been  sufficient  to  enforce  obedience,  dil- 
igence, punctuality,  and  general  subordina- 
tion. In  only  two  instances  had  appeal  been 
made  to  parental  authority.  The  parents  of 
the  pupils,  the  honorable  committee,  the  pu- 
pils themselves,  and  the  lookers-on  about  the 
town,  were  uniformly  pleased  with  the  pros- 
perous issue  of  the  experiment.  "If  they 
hadn't  learned  so  much,"  it  was  said,  "the 
children  certainly  had  behaved  better  than 
they  ever  did  before,  and  that  was  some- 
thing gained." 

Miss  More,  too,  was  encouraged  by  the  re- 
sults attained.  She  felt  that  her  efforts  had 
not  been  without  profit.  Impressions  had 
been  made  in  many  instances  upon  the  heart, 


200  THE    WINTER   SCHOOL. 

and  she  thought  she  could  already  see  in  sev- 
eral individuals  the  upspringing  of  the  good 
seed.  The  zeal  and  interest  manifested  upon 
the  subject  of  tobacco  was  certainly  one  good 
fruit  which  had  grown  from  her  application 
of  moral  truth ;  and  earnestly  she  hoped  and 
prayed  that  it  might  deepen  and  extend.  "I 
expect  every  one  of  you,"  she  said  to  the  boys 
in  parting,  "  to  grow  up  total  abstinence  men, 
both  as  pertains  to  liquor  and  tobacco.  If 
you  do  not  form  the  habits  of  chewing  and 
smoking  while  young,  you  probably  never 
will.  A  person  may  in  mature  life  descend, 
from  the  force  of  circumstances,  to  the  prac- 
tices of  intemperance ;  but  it  is  generally  con- 
ceded that  the  habit  of  using  tobacco  is  formed 
in  youth.  If  I  should  ever  meet  you  in  after 
years,  or  hear  of  you,  as  undoubtedly  I  shall, 
my  first  expectation  will  be  to  learn  thit  you 
are  stanch  anti-tobacco  men.  And  bo'.h  you 
and  the  girls  too  must  use  every  endes  for,  in 
your  own  families  and  throughout  the  town, 
to  reclaim  others  from  these  evil  habits,  and  to 
diffuse  light  and  knowledge  upon  the  sojbject. 
See  if  you  can  not  persuade  the  snuff-takers  and 
tobacco-chewers  among  your  acquaintances  to 
give  up  their  favorite  indulgence,  and  appro- 
priate the  money  to  some  charitable  or  useful 
purpose." 


WHAT   BECAME    OF    THEM.  201 

"That's  the  way  grandma  Sheffield  does," 
interrupted  Miss  Gilmore.  "  She  used  to 
spend  as  much  as  five  dollars  a  year  for 
snuff,  and  now  she  gives  it  to  the  Missionary 
Society.  And  she  says  it  gives  her  a  great 
deal  more  satisfaction  than  the  snuff  ever 
did." 

"  Her  example  is  a  worthy  one.  If  all  the 
snuff-takers  in  Campfield  would  'give  the* 
money  they  expend  in  that  useless  way  to 
purchasing  a  Sunday  School  or  District 
School  Library,  or  to  the  sustaining  of  some 
young  person  of  their  acquaintance  in  get- 
ting an  education,  or  appropriate  it  to  the 
help  of  a  home  missionary,  to  the  building 
up  of  a  feeble  church,  or  the  planting  of  a 
Sunday  School  where  one  has  never  existed, 
how  much  good  might  be  accomplished !  — 
good  that  would  bear  to  be  looked  at,  that 
would  give  true  satisfaction  and  pleasure, 
when  we  come  to  a  review  of  this  earthly 
state." 

When  Miss  More  left,  the  members  of  the 
Society  brought  her  several  dollars,  which  they 
had  contributed  among  themselves,  requesting 
her  to  purchase  for  them  tracts  on  this  sub- 
ject for  circulation  in  their  community.  The 
commission  was  promptly  fulfilled,  and  when 


202  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

the  parcel  arrived  at  Campfield,  it  was  found 
to  contain,  in  addition,  a  gift  from  their  kind 
friend,  consisting  of  a  handsomely  printed 
certificate  of  membership  for  each  one  of  her 
pupils  whose  name  had  been  enrolled  upon 
the  list.  These  were  received  with  acclama- 
tions of  pleasure  by  all,  and  sacredly  kept, 
not  only  as  reminders  of  their  principles,  but 
as  mementoes  of  affection  from  their  loved 
and  respected  teacher.  Should  any  one  of 
my  little  readers  ever  visit  Campfield,  he  will, 
no  doubt,  find  some  of  these  still  hanging, 
neatly  framed,  in  the  simple  parlors  of  the 
country  people.  Some  have  been  carried  to 
other  and  distant  homes,  by  those  who  alone 
would  attach  any  value  to  them.  For  the 
pupils  of  the  "New  School"  have  not  re- 
mained in  statw  quo  any  more  than  the  rest 
of  the  world.  '  They  have  followed  the  course 
of  human  life,  have  grown  up,  married,  set- 
tled, entered  professions  and  business  pursuits 
of  various  kinds.  "Would  you  like  to  know 
something  about  them? 

Our  gentle  little  Lucy  Clark  married  a 
minister,  and  is  leading  a  quiet,  useful  life,  in 
the  midst  of  a  rising  family  and  a  loving 
people,  in  a  frontier  town  of  her  own  native 
etate.  Bessie  Simorison  is  a  prosperous  mer- 


WHAT   BECAME    OF    THEM.  203 

chant's  wife  in  the  far-off  state  of  Iowa.  Re- 
becca is  teaching  —  fulfilling  her  part  in  life 
well,  as  a  loved  and  successful  guide  of  the 
youthful  mind  in  the  pursuits  of  knowledge, 
forgetting  not,  like  the  teacher  she  takes 
pleasure  in  remembering,  the  cultivation  of 
the  heart  and  the  conscience.  Anna  Little 
is  married,  too.  Oh,  yes,  she  and  Tristram 
have  united  hands  and  hearts.  May  their 
lives  flow  on  peacefully  and  happily  together. 
Sidney  has  chosen  a  sailor's  life  for  himself, 
and  now  rejoices  in  the  title  of  Captain. 
Captain  Barnes  is  a  man  distinguished  for  his  « 
goodness  rather  than  for  his  moneyed  success. 
"  I  have  never  drank,  I  have  never  smoked, 
and  never  chewed;  I  have  given  all  men 
their  just  dues,"  says  the  captain  himself; 
"but  Providence  has  always  seemed  to  smile 
against  me.  If  I  hadn't  been  honest,  I  might 
have  made  a  fortune ;  but,  somehow,  I  always 
have  felt  that  a  clean  heart  was  better  than  a 
full  purse."  We  feel  so,  too,  and  we  verily 
believe  the  hour  will  come,  if  not  in  this  life, 
in  that  which  is  close  at  hand,  when  the  radi- 
ant smile  of  God  will  dawn  upon  that  patient, 
humble  soul,  and  crown  him  with  immortal 
honor,  joy,  and  enduring  riches. 

Poor  Jim  Lawrence  is  dead.     In  less  than 


204  THE    WINTER    SCHOOL. 

two  years  after  the  close  of  that  winter  school, 
his  emaciated  form  was  laid  in  the  quiet  grave- 
yard of  Campfield.  Was  he  a  victim  of  to- 
bacco ?  The  doctor  talked  of  pulmonary 
complaints ;  the  neighbors  said  he  had  con- 
sumption; his  parents  thought  it  inherited 
scrofula.  But  who  can  doubt,  that  with  the 
taint  of  inherited  disease  within  him,  his  early 
and  extravagant  use  of  tobacco  developed  the 
disease,  dried  up  all  the  resisting  and  recuper- 
ating forces  in  his  system,  and  facilitated  his 
death?  Xor  is  his  an  isolated  case.  Many 
ii  young  man,  whose  death  is  recorded  in  our 
daily  papers,  and  whose  physician  makes  out 
a  certificate  of  consumption,  if  the  truth  were 
known,  if  facts  were  investigated,  would  be 
enrolled  as  a  victim  of  this  terrible  but  fash- 
ionable poison.  When  shall  redress  come  ? 

Where  shall  help  come  from  ?  Boys,  from 
you.  Begin  right.  Set  your  faces  as  a  flint 
against  the  use  of  tobacco  in  any  form.  Hold 
your  pledge  sacred  as  your  life,  as  your  eter- 
nal interests;  and  with  the  pure  principles 
of  the  rising  generation  on  this  vital  point 
will  be  inaugurated  a  new  era  in  virtue  and 
religion. 


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